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LAY 



OF THE 



LAST MINSTREI 



-^} 



A POEM. 



BY 



WALTER SCOTT, Es(^. 



Dum relego, scripsisse pudet, qwia plurima cerno , 
Me quoque, quia feci, judice,di^na limii 



^'^y Of VVasV.^^ 



NEW-YORK: 



PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ELLIOT AND CRISSY> 

AT THE TONTINE COFFEE-HOUSE. 

SOLD ALSO BY R. SCOTT, PEARL STREET. 

AND A. DEVILLERS, CHARLESTON, 



1811. 



~^ 



i 



». <n 



TO 



THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 



CHARLES, 



EARL OF DALKEITH, 



THIS POEM 



IS INSCRIBED BY 



THE 



AUlTIOR. 



EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 

A HE Poem now offered to the public is in- 
tended to illustrate the customs and manners 
which anciently prevailed on the Borders of 
England and Scotland. The inhabitants, liv- 
ing in a state partly pastoral and partly war- 
like, and combining habits of constant depre- 
dation with the influence of a rude spirit of 
chivalry, were often engagedin scenes highly sus- 
ceptible of poetical ornament. As the description 
of scenery and manners was more the object 
of the Author than a combined and regular nar- 
rative, the plan of the ancient metrical ro- 
mance was adopted, which allows greater lat- 
titude in this respect than would be consistent 
with the dignity of a regular poem. The same 
model offered other facilities, as it permits 
an occasional alteration of measure, which, in 
some degree, authorises the changes of rythm 
in the text. The machinery also, adopted 
from popular belief, would have seemed pue- 
rile in a poem which did not partake of the 
rudeness of the old ballad, or metrical ro- 
mance. 

For these reasons the poem was put into the 
mouth of an ancient Minstrel, the last of the 
race, who, as he is supposed to bav"© survived 
the Revolution, might have caught somewhat 
of the refinement of modern poetry, without los- 
ing the simplicity of his orignal model. The date 
of the tale itself is about the middle of the six- 
teenth century, when most of the personages 
actually flourished The time occupied by the 
action is three nights and three days. 



THE 

LAY 

THE LAST MINSTREL. 

INTRODUCTION. 



1 HE way was long, the wind was cold, 
The Minstrel was infirm and old ; 
His withered cheek, and tresses gray, 
Seemed to have known a better day, 
The harp, his sole remaining joy 
W as carried by an orphan boy. 
The last of all the bards was he. 
Who sung of Border chivalry ; 
For, welladay ! their date vvas fled. 
His tuneful brethren all were dead ; 
And he, neglected and oppressed, 
Wished to be with them, and at rest. 
No more, on prancing palfrey borne. 
He carolled, light as lark at morn ; 
No longer, courted and caressed. 
High placed in hall, a welcome guest. 
He poured, to lord and lady gay. 
The unpremeditated lay ; 
Old times were changed, old manners goae, 
A stranger filled the Stuarts' throne; 
The bigots of the iron time 
Had called his harmless art a crime. 
A wandering Harper, scorned and poor. 
He begged his bread from door to dQcr; 
B 



2 THE LAY OF Canto I. 

And tuned, to please a peasant's ear, 
The harp, a king had loved to hear. 

Repassed where Newark's stately tower 
Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower : 
The Minstrel gazed with wishful eye, 
No humbler resting place was nigh. 
With hesitating step, at last, 
The embattled portal arch he passed, 
Whose ponderous graje, and massy bar, 
Had oft rolled back the tide ot war, 
But never closed the iron deer 
Against the desolate and poor. 
The duchess a marked his weary pace, 
His timid mien, and reverend face, 
And bade her page the memals teil, 
That they should tend the old man well: 
For she had known adversity, 
Though born in such a high degree ; 
In pride of power, in beauty's bloom. 
Had wept o*er Monmouth's bloody tomb 
When kindne&s had his wants supplied, 
And the old man was gratified. 
Began to rise his minstrel pride* 
And he began to talk, anon 
Of good earl Francis b dead and gone, 
And of earl Walter, c rest \\im Giid ! 
A braver ne'er W) battle roile : 
And how full niany a tale he kn«w, 
Of the old warriors of Buccieuch; 

a Anne, cluches. of Bticcleucb an-l Moonioutli, r«p re- 

of the unfortunate Ja^es, duke of U.x^m,.^k^, ^lu> wftS 

behtar!e<i in 1685. , r ^i *r> fi^a 

A Prancis Scott, earl of Buceteucb, fetUer to the 

Walter, earl of fiuccleuch, grandfather of the 



ducljess 



c 



auchessjanda celebrated warriuf. 



1 



THE LAST MINSTREL. o 

;Vnd, would the noble duchess deign 

To listen to an old man's stiain, 

Though stiff his hand, his voice though weak^ 

He thought even yet, the sooth to speak, 

That, if she loved the harp to hear. 

He could make music to her ear. 

I'he humble boon was soon obtained ; 
The aged Minstrel audience gained. 
But, when he reached the room of state, 
VV here she, with all her ladies, sate. 
Perchance he wished his boon denied : 
For, when to tune his harp he tried, 
His trembling hand had lost the ease, 
Which marks security to please ; 
And scenes, long past, of joy and pain. 
Came wildering o'er his aged brain ; 
He tried to tune his harp m vain. 
The pitying duchess praised its chime, 
And gave him heart, and gave him tirae^ 
Till every string's according glee 
Was blended into harmony. 
And then, he said, he would full fain 
He could recal an ancient strain, 
He never thought to smg again. 
It was not framed for village churls, 
But for high dames and mighty earls ; 
He had played it to king Charles the Good^ 
When he kept court at Holy rood ; 
And much he wished, yet feared to try 
The long forgotten melody 

Amid the strings his lingers strayed, 
And an uncertain warbling made; 
And oft he shook his hoary head. 
But when he caught the measure wild. 
The old man raised his face, and smileij, 
And lightened up his faded eye. 
With all a poet's ecstasy ! 



4 THE LAY 8cc. Canto I. 

In varying cadence, soft or strong, 
He swept the sounding chords along ; 
The present scene, the future lot, 
His toils, his wants, were all forgot; 
Cold diffidence, and age's frost, 
In the full tide of song were lost ; 
Each blank, in faithless memory void. 
The poet's glowing thought supplied; 
And, while his harp responsive rung, 
'Twas thus the *' latest minstrel " sung'. 



THE 

LAY . 

OF 

THE LAST MINSTREL, 

CANTO FIRST. 

1 HE fdast was over in Branksome tower. 
And the lad} e had gone to her secret bower ; 
Her bower, that was guarded by word and by 

speil, 
Deadly to hear, and deadly to tell — 
Jesu Maria, shield us well ! 
Ko living wight, save the ladye alone, 
Had dared to cross the threshold stone. 

II. 
The tables were drawn, it was idlesse all; 
Knight, aid page, and household- squire, 
Loitered through the lofty hali, 

Or crowded round the ample fire. 
The stag hounds, weary with the chase. 

Lay stre'ched upon the rushy floor. 
And urged, in dreams, the forest race, 
From Teviotstone to Eskdalemoor. 
III. 
Nine and twenty knights of fame 

Hung 'heir shields in Branksome hall ; 
Nine and twenty squires of name 
Brought them their steeds from bower tostall 5 
Nine and twenty yeomen tall, 
Waited^ duteCus, on them all : 



i^ THE LAY OF Canto 

They were all knights of mettle true, 
Kinsmen to the bold Buccleuch. 
IV. 
Ten of them were sheathed in steel, 
Vv^ith belted sword, and spur on heel: 
They quitted not their harness bright, 
Neither by day, nor yet by night : 
They lay down to rest 
With corslet laced. 
Pillowed on buckler cold and hard; 
They carved at the meal 
With gloves of steel, 
And they drank the red wine through the heir 
met barred. 

V. 
Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail clad men, 
Waited the beck of the warders ten; 
Thirty steeds, both fleet and v/ight, 
Stood saddled in a stable day and night, 
Barbed with frontlet of steel, I trow, 
And with Jedwood axe at saddle bow ; 
A hundred more fed free in stall : 
Buch was the custom of Branksome hall. 

VI. 
Why do these steeds stand ready dight.^ 
Why watch these warriors, armed, by night ? 
They watch, to hear the bloodhound baying; 
They watch, to hear the warhorn braying ; 
To see Saint George's red cross streaming, 
To see the midnight beacon gleaming ; 
They watch against Southern force and guile, 
Lest Scroope, or Howard, or Percy's powers 
Threaten Branksome's lordly towers, 
From Warkworth, or N a worth, or merry Car- 
lisle. 

vn. 

Such is the custom of Branksome hall. 
Many a valiant knight is here ; 



^tf^ 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 

But he, the chieftain of them all* 
His sword hangs rusting on the wall 

Beside his broken spear. 
Bards long shall tell, 
How lord Walter felli 
When startled burghers fled, afar, 
The furies of the Border war ; 
When the streets of high Dunedin 
Saw lances gleam, and falchions reddeu, 
And heard the slogan's d deadly yell- 
Then the chief of Branksome fell. 

VHL 
Can piety the discord heal, 

Or staunch the deathfeud's enmity t 
Can Christian lore, can patriot zeal, 

Can love of blessed charity } 
No ! vainly to each holy shrine, 

In mutual pilgrimage, they drew ; 
Implored, in vain, the grace divine 

For chiefs, their own red falchions slew. 
While Cessford owns the rule of Car, 

While Et trick boasts the line of Scott, 
The slaughtered chiefs, the mortal jar, 
The havoc of the feudal war. 

Shall never, never be forgot I 
IX. 
In sorrow, o'er lord Walter's bier 

The warlike forresters had bent ; 
And many a flower, and many a tear, 

Old Tiviot's maids and matrons lent; 
But o'er her warrior's bloody bier 
The ladye dropped nor flower nor tear : 

Vengeance, deep brooding o'er the slain, 
Had locked the source of softer wo ; 

And burning pride, and high disdain, 
Forbade the rising tear to flow ; 

Until, amid his sorrowing clan, 

d The tvftr Grj% or gatlierifj^ vt^dxA of aboidtr ctt««. 



9 THE LAY OF Canto I. 

Her son lisped from the nurse's knee — 

" And, if I live to be a man, 

** My father's death revenged shall be !'* 
Then fast the mother's tears did seek 
To dew the infant's kindling cheek. 

X. 
Allloose her negligent attire, 

All loose her golden hair. 
Hung Margaret o'er her slaughtered sire. 

And wept in wild despair. 
But not alone the bitter tear 

Had filial grief supplied ; 
For hopeless love, and anxious fear. 

Had lent their mingled tide ; 
Nor in her mother's altered eye 
Dared she to look for sympathy. 

Her lover, 'gainst her father's clan, 
With Car in arms had stood, 

When Mathouse burn to Melrose ran 
All purple with their blood. 

And well she knew, her mother dread. 

Before lord Cranstoun she should wed, 

V\ ould see her on her dying bed. 
XI. 
Of noble race the ladye came ; 
Her father was a clerk of fame. 

Of Bethune's line of Picardie : 
He learned the art, that none may name, 

In Padua, far beyond the sea. 
Men said he changed his mortal frame 

By feat of magic mystery ; 
For when, in studious mood, he paced 

Saint Andrew's cloistered hall, 
His form no darkening shadow traced , 

Upon the sunny wall ! 
XII. 
And of his skill, as bards avow, 

He taught that ladye fair, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 

Till to her bidding she could bow 

The viewless forms of air. 
And now she sits in secret bower. 
In old lord David's western tower, 
And listens to a heavy sound, 
That moans the mossy turrets round. 
Is it the roar of riviot s tide, 
That chafes against the scaur's e red side ? 
Is it the wind that swings the oaks ^ 
Is it the echo from the rocks ? 
W hat may it be, the heavy sound, 
That moans old Branksome's turrets round? 

XIII. 
At the sullen, moaning sound, 

The bandogs bay and howl ; 
And, from the turrets round. 

Loud whoops the startled owl. 
In the hall, both squire and knight 

Swore that a storm was near. 
And looked forth to view the night ; 

But the night was still and clear \ 
XIV. 
From the sound of Tiviot's tide, 
Chafing with the mountain's side. 
From the groan of the windswung oak^ 
From the sullen echo of the rock, 
From the voice of the coming storm, 

The ladye knew it well ! 
It was the Spirit of the Flood that spoke. 

And he called on the Spirit of the FelL 
XV. {River S/iirit.) 
** Sleepest thou, brother ?" 

Mountain Spirit, 
** Brother, nay — 

On my hills the moonbeams play. 
From Craikcross to .Skeifhillpen, 
By every rill, in every glen, 

e Scaur, a precipitous bank of earth. 



10 THE LAY OF Canto L 

Merry elves their morrice pacing. 

To aerial minstrelsy » 
Emerald rings on brown heath tracing, 

l^'ript it deft and merrily. 
Up, and mark their nimble feet I 
Up, and list their music sweet!'* 
XVI. {River S/iirit.) 
** Tears of an imprisoned maiden 

Mi5i with my polluted stream ; 
Margaret cf Branksome, sorrow laden, 

Mourns beneath the moon's pale beam. 
Teii me, thou, who viewest the stars, 
Wiien shall cease these feudal jars ^ 
What shall be the maiden's fate? 
Who shall be the maiden's mate ?" 

XVII. {Mountain Sfiirit.) 
" Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll, 
In utter darkness, round the pole ; 
The Northern Bear low^ers black and grim.j 
Orion's studded belt is dim; 
Twinkling faint, and distant far, 
Shimmers through mist each planet star; 

111 may I read their high decree : 
But no kind influence deign they shower 
On Tiviot's tide, and Branksome's tower. 

Till pride be quelled, and love be free.'^ 
XVIII. 
The unearthly voices ceast, 

And the heavy sound was still; 
It died on the river's breast, 

It died on the side of the hilL 
Bu. round lord David's tower 

The sound still floated near ; 
For it rung in the ladye's bower, 

And it rung in the ladye's ear. 
She raised her stately head, 

And her heart throbbed high with pride : 
•* Your mountains shall bend, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. H 

And your streams ascend, 

Ere Margaret be our foeman*s bride !'^ 
XLX. 
The ladye sought the lofty hall, 

Where man> a bold retainer lay, 
And, with jocund din, among them all, 

Her sou pursued his infant play. 
A fancied mosstrooper, the boy 

The truncheon of a spear bestrode, 
And round the hall, right merrily, 

In mimic foray y* rode. 
Even bearded knights, in arms grown old, 

Share in his frolic gambols l^ore. 
Albeit their hearts, of rugged mould, 

Were stubborn as the steel they wore. 
For the gray warriors prophesied. 

How the brave boy, in future war. 
Should tame the unicorn's pride, 

Exalt the Crecents and the Star. ^ 
XX. 
The ladye forgot her purpose high, 

One moment, and no more ; 
One moment gazed with a mother's eye, 

As she paused at the arched door. 
Then, from amid the armed train, 
She called to her W illiam of Delorainei 

XXL 
A stark mosstrooping Scott was he, 
As e'er couched Border lance by knee. 
Through Sol way sands, through Tarras moss^ 
Blindfold, he knew the paths to cross ; 
By wily turns, by desperate bounds, 
Had baffled Percy's best bloodhounds ; 
In Eske, or Liddel, fords were none, 
But he would ride them, one by one ; 
/Furay, a predatory inroad. 

^Aliudiug to the armorial beariogB of the Scottf 
and Cars. 



12 THE LAY OF Canto I. 

Alike to him was^ time, or tide, 
December's snow, or July's pride ; 
Alike to him was tide, or time, 
Moonless midnight, or matin prime. 
Steady of hearc, and stout of hand, 
As ever drove prey from Cumberland ; 
Five times outlawed had he been, 
By England's king and Scotland's* queen. 

XXII. 
^'*Sir William of Deloraine, good at need. 
Mount thee on the wightest steed ; 
Spare not to spur, nor stint to ride. 
Until thou come to fair Tweed side ; 
And in Melrose's holy pi^e 
Seek thou the monk of St. Mary's aisle. 

Greet the father well from me ; 
Say, that the fated hour is come. 

And to night he shall watch with thee, 
To win the treasure of the tomb : 
For this will be Saint Michael's night. 
An , though stars be dim, the moon is bright; 
And the cross, of bloody red. 
Will point to the grave of the mighty dead." 

XXIII. 
" W hat he gives to thee, see thou keep ; 
Stay not thou for fowl or sleep. 
Be it scroll, or be it book, 
Into it, knight, thou must not look; 
If thou readest, thou art lorn ! 
Better had'st thou ne'er been born '." 

XXIV. 
** O swiftly can speed my dapylegrav steed, 

Which drinks of the Te\ iot cleir; 
Ere breiik of day," the w^arrior 'g .n ^ay, 

*' Again will I be here : 
And s ifer by none may the errand be done, 

Than, noble dame, by me; 



THE LAST MINSTREL. I'S 

Letter nor line know I never a one, 
Wer't my neckverse, at Hairibee." h 
XXV. 
Soon in his saddle sate he fast, 
And soon the steep descent he past; 
Soon crossed the sounding barbacan, i 
And soon the Teviot side he won. 
Eastward the wooded path he rode ; 
Green hazels o'er his basnet nod : 
He passed the Peel k of Goldiland, 
And crossed old Borth wick's roaring strand 
Dimly he viewed the Moathill's mound. 
Where Druid shades still flitted round : 
In Hawick twinkled manv a light; 
Behind him soon they set in night; 
And soon he spurred his courser keen 
Beneath the tower of Hazeldean. 

XXVL 
The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark; 
** Stand, ho ! thou courier of the dark." 
** For Branksome, ho !" the knight rejoined., 
And left the friendly tower behind. 
He turned him now from Feviot side, 

And» guided by the twinkling rill. 
Northward the dark ascent did ride. 
And gained the moor at Horseliehill; 
Broad on the left before him lay, 
For many a mile, the Roman way. / 

h Hanhee^ the piace of executing the Border marau- 
ders ai Carlisle. The neckverse is the beginning )f the 
fifty first psalm, Miserere meiy k.c. anciently read by 
criminals, claiming the benefit of clergy. 

i Barbacan, the defence of the outer gate of a feudal 
castle. 

k Peel, a Border tower. 

/ An ancient Roman road, crossing through part ot 
Roxburghshire. 



U THE LAY OF Canto L 

XXVII. 

A moment noAv he ^slacked his speed, 
A moment breathed his panting steed ; 
Drew saddlegirth and corstleband, 
And loosened in the sheath his brand. 
On Mintocrags the moonbeams glint. 
Where BarnirJl hewed his bed of fiint; 
Who flung his outlawd limbs to rest, 
Where falcons hang their giddy nest, 
Mid cliffs, from whence his eagle eye. 
For many a league, his prey could s}.)y ; 
Cliffs, doubling, on their echoes borne, 
The terrors of the robber's horn ; 
Chffs, which, for many a later year, 
The warbling Doric reed shall hear, 
When some sad swain shall teach the grove. 
Ambition is no cure for love. 
XXVIII. 
Unchallenged, thence past Deloraine 
To ancient Ridd ell's fair domain, 

Where A ill from mountains freed, 
Down from the lakes did raving come ; 
Kach wave was crested with tawny foam, 

Like the mane of a chesnut steed, 
la vain ! no torrent, deep or broad, 
Might bar the bold mosstrooper's road. 

XXIX. 
At the first plunge the horse sunk low. 
And tlie w^ater broke o*er the saddlebow; 
Above the foaming tide, I ween, 
Scarce half the charger's neck was seen ; 
For he was barded rn from counter to tail, 
And rhe rider was armed complete hi mail; 
Nex ei' heavier man and horse 
Stemmed a midnight torrent's force. 
The varrior's very plume, I say, 

772 ^'arded, or barbed, applied to a horse accoutred 
with defensive armour. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. IS 

Was tlaggled by the dashing spray ; 

Yet, through good heart, and our ladye's grace, 

At length he gaine«l the iandmg place. 

XXX. 
Now Bow den Moar the marchman won, 

And sternly shook his plumed head, 
As glanced his eye o*er Halidon; 7i 

For on his soul the slaughter red 
Of that unhallowed morn arose, 
W hen first the Scott and Car were foes 
When royal James beheld tlie fray, 
Prize to the victor of the day ; 
VV hen Honie and Douglass, in the vaa» 
Bore down EiKicleuch s retinp^^ clan, 
Till gallant Ces^ford*fe heartbioocl dear 
Reeked on dark EUiot*s larder spear. 

XXXI. 
In bitter mood he spurred fast, 
And soon the hated heath was past ; 
And far beneath, in lustre wan,* 
Old Melrose rose, and fair Tweed ran : 
Like some tali rock, with lichen^ gray, 
Seemed, dimly huge, the dark Abbaye. 
When Hawick he passed, had curtew rung. 
Now midnight lauds o were in Melrcse sung\ 
The sound, upon the iittul gale, 
In solemn wise, did rise and fail, 
Like that wild harp, v/host magic tone 
Is wakened by the winds alone. 
But when Melrose \\^ reached, 'twassilence all; 
He meetly stabled his steed in stall, 
And sougnt the convent's lonely wall 
Here paused the harp; and with its swell 
The master's fire and courage fell : 

n ftaUdonhxl on which t ht bau le « »f Melrose was- fought* 
Laudiy the midnight service of the Catholic church. 



16 THE LAY, &c. Canto t 

Dejectedly, and low, he bowed. 
And, gazing timid on the crowd, 
He seemed to seek, in every eye. 
If they approved his minstrelsy; 
And, diffident of present praise. 
Somewhat he spoke of former days, 
And how old age, and wandering long. 
Had done his hand and harp some wrong. 
The duchess, and her daughters fair^ 
And every gentle ladye there. 
Each after each, in due degree. 
Gave praises to his melody; 
His hand was true, his voice was clear. 
And much they longed the rest to hear^ 
Encouraged thus, the Aged Man, 
After meet rest, again began* 



LAY 

OF 

THE LAST MINSTREL. 

CANTO SECOND* 

T ^' 

Jlf thou would'st view fair Melrose aright. 

Go visit it by the pale moonhght; 

For the gay beams of lightsome day 

Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray. 

When the broken arches are black in nighty 

And each shafted oriel glimmers white ; 

When the cold light's uncertain shov/er 

Streams on the ruined central tower; 

When buttress and buttress, alternately^ 

Seemed framed of ebon and ivory ; 

When silver edges the imagery. 

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; 

When distant Tv/eed is heard to rave, 

And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's 

grave, 
Then go— but go alone the while — 
Then view Saint David's ruined pile ; 
And, home returning, soothly swear. 
Was never scene so sad and fair ! 

II. 
Short halt did Deloraine make there; 
Little recked he of the scene so fair. 
With dagger's hilt, on the wicket strongs 
He struck full loud, and struck full long. 

C 



18 THE LAY OF Ganto H. 

The porter hurried to the gate — 

** Who knocks so ioud, and knocks so late?" 

*' From Branksome I," the warrior cried; 

And straight the wicket opened wide : 

For Branksome's chiefs had in battle stood, 

To fence the rights of fair Meh^ose ; 
And lands and livings, many a rood, 

Had gifted the shrine for their souls' repose. 
III. 
Bold Deloraine his errant said ; 
The porter bent his humble head ; 
With torch in hand, and feet unshod. 
And noiseless step, the path he trod ; 
The arched cloisters, far and wide. 
Rang to the warrior's clanking stride ; 
Till, stooping low his lofty crest, 
He entered" the cell of the ancient priest. 
And lifceJ his barred aventayle, a 
To hail the monk of Saint Mary's aisle. 

IV. 
'' The ladye of Branksome greets thee by me; 

Says, th'it the fated hour is come, 
And that to-night I shall watch with thee, 

To win the treasure of the tomb." 
From sackcloth couch the monk arose. 

With toil his stiffened limbs he reared; 
A hundred years had flung their snows 
On his thin locks and floating beard. 
V. 
And strangely on the knight looked he, 
And his blue eyes gleamed wild and wide ^ 
** And, dar'st thou, warrior! seek to see 

What heaven and hell alike would hide? 
My breast, in belt of iron pent. 

With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn > 

a Aventayle^ visor of t]ie helmet. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 19 

For threescore years, in penance spent, 

My knees those flinty stones have worn; 
Yet all too little to atone 
For knowing what should ne'er be known. 
Would'st thou thy every future year 

In ceaseless prayer and penance drie, 
Yet wait thy latter end with fear — 
Then, daring warrior^ follow me !'' 
VL 
" Penance, father, will I none ; 
Prayer know 1 hardly one ; 
For mass or prayer can 1 rarely tarry, 
Save to patter an Ave Mary, 
When I ride on a Border foray ; 
Other prayer can I none ; 
So speed me my errand, and let me begone." 

VIL 
Again on the knight lookei the churchman old. 

And again he sighed heavily ; 
For he had himself been a warrior bold> 
And fought in Spain and Italy. 
And he thought on the days that were long 

since by. 
When his limbs were strong, and his courage 

was high ; 
Now, slow and faint, he led the way 
Where, cloistered round, the garden lay ; 
The pillared arches were over their head. 
And beneath their feet were the bones of the 
dead* 

VIIL 
Spreading herbs, and flow 'rets bright. 
Glistened with the dew of night; 
Nor herb, nor flow'ret, glistened there, 
But was carved in the cloister arches as fair. 
The monk gazed long on the lovely moon, 

Then into the night he looked forth ; 
And red and bright the streamers light 



20 THE LAY OF Canto 11. 

Were dancing in the glowing north. 

So had he seen, in fair Castile, 

The youth in glittering squadrons start ; 

Sudden the flying jennet wheel. 
And hurl the unexpected dart. 
Xle knew, by the streamers that shot so bright, 
That spirits were riding the northern light. 

IX. 
By a steel clenched postern door. 

They entered now the chancel tall ; 
The darkened roof rose high aloof 

On pillars, lofty, and light, and small ; 
The keystone, that locked each ribbed aisle, 
Was a fieur delys, or a quatre feuille ; 
Thecorbells h were carved grotesque and grim \ 
And the pillars, with clustered shafts so trim, 
With plinth and with capital flourished around, 
Seemed bundles of lances which garlands had 
bound. 

X. 
Full many a scutcheon and banner, riven. 
Shook to the cold nightwind of heaven. 

Around the screened altar's pale ; 
And there the dying lamps did burn. 
Before thy low and lonely urn, 
O gallant chief of Otterburne, 

And thine, dark knight of Liddesdale i 
O fading honours of the dead ! 
O high ambition, lowly laid I 

XI. 
The moon on the east oriel shone, 
Through slender shafts of shapely stone. 

By foliaged tracery combined ; 
Thou would'st have thought some fairy's hand 
*Twixt poplars straight, the osier wand, 

h Corbetls, the projections from which the arches 
spring, usually cut into a fantastic face, or mask. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 21 

In many a freakish knot had twmed : 
Then framed a spell when the work was done, 
And changed the willow wreaths to stone. 
The silver light so pale and faint, 
Showed many a prophet and many a saint. 

Whose image on the glass was dyed ; 
Pull in the midst, his cross of red 
Triumphant Michael brandished, 

And trampled the apostate's pride. 
The moonbeam kissed the holy pane, 
And threw on the pavement a bloody stain. 

XII. 
They sate them down on a marble stone 

(A Scottish monarch slept below;) 
Thus spoke the monk, in solemn tone— 

*' I was not always a man of wo ; 
For Paynim countries I have trod. 
And fought beneath the cross of God ; 
Now, strange to mine eyes thine arms appear. 
And their iron clang sounds strange in my ear. 

XIII. 
•* In these far climes it was my lot 
To meet the wondrous Michael Scott ; 

A wizard of such dreaded fame, 
That when in Salamanca*s cave. 
Him listed his magic wand to wave. 

The bells would ring in Notre Dame ! 
Some of his skill he taught to me ; 
And, warrior, I could say to thee, 
The words that cleft Eildon hills in three, 

And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone ; 
But to speak them were a deadly sin ; 
And for having but thought them my hear' 
within, 

A treble penance must be done. 
XIV. 
'* When Michael lay on his dying bed, 
His conscience was awakened ; 



22 THE LAY OF Canto IL 

He bethought him of his sinful deed, 
And he gave me a sign to come v*'ith speed : 
1 was in Spain v/hen the morning rose, 
But I stood by his bed ere evening close. 
The words may not again be said. 
That he spoke to me on deathbed laid ; 
They would rend this Abbaye's massy nave, 
And pile it in heaps above his grave. 

XV. 
** I swore to bury his mighty book. 
That never mortal might therein look; 
And never to tell where it was hid. 
Save at his chief of Branksome's need ; 
And when that need was past and o'er, 
Again the volume to restore. 
I buried him on St. Michael's night, 
When the bell tolled one, and the moon was 

bright ; 
And I dug his chamber among the dead, 
Where the floor of the chancel w^as stained red, 
Til at his patron's cross might over him wave, 
And scare the fiends from the wizard's grave. 

XVI. 
*' It v;as a night of wo and dread, 
Vvhen Michael in the tomb I laid I 
Strange sounds along the chancel past. 
The banners waved v/ithout a blast." 
Still spoke the monk, when the btli tolled one ! 
I tcU you that a braver man 
Than' William of Deloraine, good at need. 
Against a foe ne'er spurred a steed ; 
\'et somewhat was he chilled with dread, 
And his hair did bristle upon his head. 

XVII. 
*' Lo, w^arrior ! nov/ the cross of red 
Points to tliC grave of the mighty dead ; 
Within it burns a wondrous light 
To chase the spirits that love the night: 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 23 

That lamp shall burn unquenchably, 

Until the eternal doom bhall be." 

Slow moved the monk to the broad flagstone. 

Which the bloody cross was traced upon: 

He pointed to a secret nook ; 

A bar from thence the warrior took ; 

And the monk made a sign, with his withered 

hand, 
The grave's huge portal to expand. 

XVIIL 

With beating heart to the task he went ; 

His sinewy frame o*er the gravestone bent ; 

With bar of iron heaved amain, 

Till the toildrops fell from his brows like rain. 

It was by dint of passing strength, 

That he moved the massy stone at length. 

I would you had been there to'see, 

How the light broke forth so gloriously ; 

Streamed upwards to the char.ccl roof, 

And through the galleries far aloof ! 

Ko earthly flame blaz'd e'er so bright ; 

It shone like heaven's own blessed light ; 

And issuing from the tomb. 
Shewed the monk's cowl and visage pale, 
Danced on the darkbrow'd warrior's mail, 

And kissed his waving plume. 

XIX. 

Before their eyes the wizard lay, 

As if he liad not been dead a day : 

His lioary head in silver rolled. 

He seemed some seventy winters old ; 

A i^almer's amice wi-appcd him rcuiul, 

With a wrouglit Spanish baldric l^our.d, 

Like ii pilgrim horn beyond the sea : 
His leftliand held his book of might ; 
A silver cross was in his vi^-ht : 

The lamp was placed beside his knee ; 



04 THE LAY OF Gaiito I> 

High and majestic was his look. 

At which the fellest fiends had shook ; 

And a,ll unrufRed was his face, 

They trusted his soul had gotten grace, 

XX. 
Often had William of Deloraine 
Hcde through the battle's bloody plain. 
And trampled down the warriors slain, 

And neither known remorse or awe ; 
Yet now remorse and a^ve he own'd ; 
His breath came thick, his head swam round. 

When this strange scene of death he saw. 
Bewildered and unnerved he stood, 
And the priest prayed fervently, and loud, 
With eyes averted prayed he, 
He might not endure the sight to see, 
Of the man he had loved so brotherly. 

XXI. 

And when the priest his death prayer had 

prayed. 
Thus unto Deloraine he said— 
" Now speed thee what thou hast to do, 
Or. warrior, we may dearly rue ; 
For those thou mayest not look upon 
Are gathering fast round the yawning stone !^* 
Then Deloraine, in terror, took 
From the cold hand the mighty book. 
With iron clasped, and with iron bound 
He thought as he took it, the dead man frowned; 
But the glare of the sepulchral light, 
Perchance had dazzled the warrior's sight. 

xxn. 

When the huge stone sunk o'er the tomb, 

The night returned in double gloorp ; 

For the moon had gone down, and the stars were 

few; 
And, as the knight and priest mthdr^w, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. i"^^ 

With wavering steps and dizzy brain, 

They hardly might the postern gain. 

'Tis said, as through the aisles they passed, 

They heard strange noises on the blast; 

And through the cloister galleries small. 

Which at midheight thread the chancel wall. 

Loud sobs, and laughter louder, ran. 

And voices unlike the voice of man ; 

As if the fiends kept holiday, 

Because these spells were brought to-day. 

I cannot tell how the truth may be ; 

I say the tale as 'twas said tome. 

XXIIL 

'"* Now hie thee hence," the father said; 
" And, when we are on deathbed laid, 
O may our dear ladye, and sweet Saint John, 
Forgive our souls for the deed we have done!" 
The monk returned him to his cell, 

And many a prayer and penance sped; 
When the convent met at the noontide bell-— . 

The monk of Saint Mary's aisle was dead ! 
Before the cross was the body laid, 
With hands clasped fast, as if still he prayed. 

XXIV. 

The knight breathed free in the morning wind, 

And strove his hardihood to find : 

He was glad when he passed the tombstones 

gray. 
Which girdle round the fair Abbaye ; 
For the mystic book, to his bosom prest, 
Felt like a load upon his breast ; 
And his joints, with nerves of iron twined, 
Shook, like the aspen leaves in wind. 
Full fain was he when the dawn of day, 
Began to brighten Cheviot gray ; 
He joyed to see the cheerful light. 
And he said Ave Mary, as well as he might. 



-6 TTIE LAY OF Canto II. 

XXV. 

The sun had brightened Cheviot gray. 

The sun liad brightened the Carter's c side ; 
And soon beneath the rising day 

Smiled Brai^ksome towers and Tevlot's tide. 
The wild birds told their warbling tale, 

And wakened every flower that blows ; 
And peeped forth the violet pale, 

And spread her breast the mountain rose! 
And lovlier than the rose so red, 

Yet paler than the violet pale, 
Siie early left her sleepless bed, 

The fairest made of Teviotdale. 
XXVI. 
Why does fair Margaret so early awake, 

iind don her kirtle so hastilie ; 
And the silken knots which in hurry she would 
make, 

Why tremble her slender fingers to tie ; 
Why does she stop, and look often around, 

As she glides down the secret stair; 
And why dees she pat the shaggy bloodhound, 

As he rouses him up from his lair ; 
And, though she passes the postern alone, 
\Y hv is not the watchman's bugle blov/n } 

XXVII. 
The ladye steps in doubt and dread, 
I^est her vv^atchful mother hear her tread; 
The ladye caresses the rough blcodjiound. 
Test his voice should waken the castle round ; 
'ihe watchnian's bugle is not blown, 
For he was her foster father's son ; 
And she glides through the greenwood at dawn 

of light, 
To meet Baron Henry, her own true knight. 

c A Mountahi on the borders of Englairl, above Jod- 
buj-gh. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 27 

XXVIIL 

The knight and ladye fair are met. 

And under the hawthorn's boughs are set. 

A fairer pair were never seen 

To meet beneath the hawthorn green. 

He was stately, and young, and tall ; 

Di-eaded in battle, and loved in hall : 

And she, when love, scarce told, scarce hid, 

Lent to her- cheek a livelier red ; 

When the half sigh her swelling breast 

Against the silken ribband pressed ; 

Wlien her blue eyes their secret told, 

'Ihough shaded by her locks of gold, — 

Where would you find the peerless fair , 

With Margaret of Branksome might comnare! 

XXIX. 
And, now, fair dames, methinks I see, 
You listen to my minstrelsy ; 
"Your waving locks ye backward throw. 
And sidelong bend your necks of snow — 
Ye ween to hear a tender tale 
^)f two true lovers in a dale ; 

And how the knight, with tender fire, 
To paint his faithful passion strove ; 

Sv/ore, he might at her feet expire ; 
But never, never cease to love ; 
And how she blushed, and hav/ she sighed, 
And, half consenting, half denied. 
And said that she would die a maid ; 
Yet, might the bloody feud be stayed, 
Henry of Cvanstcun, and only he, 
Margaret of Branksome's choice should be. 

XXX. 
Alas ! fair dames, your hopes are vain ! 
My harp has lost the enchanting strain; 

its lightness would my age reprove ; 
My iiairs are gray, my limbs are old. 
My heart is dead, my veins are cold ; 



2S THE LAY OF GantoHv 

XXXI. 

I may not, must not, sing of love. 
Beneath an oak, mossed o'er by eld, 
The baron's dwarf his courser held. 

And held his crested helm and spear. 
That dwarf Avas scarcely an earthly man, 
If the tales were true that of him ran 

Through all the Border, far and near. 
*Twas said, when the baron a hunting rode. 
Through Reedsdale's glens, but rarely trod, 

tie heard a voice cry, *' Lost ! lost ! lost !" 

And, like tennisball by raquet tost, 
A leap of thirty feet and three, 
Made from the gorse this elhn shape, 
Distorted like some dwarfish ape. 

And lighted at Lord Cranstoun's knee. 
Lord Cranstoun was some whit dismayed ; 
'Tis said that five good miles he rade, 

To rid him of his company ; 
But where he rode one mile, the dwarf ran four, 
And the dwarf was lirst at the castle door. 

xxxn. 

Use lessens marvel, it is said. 
This elfish dwarf with the baron staid ; 
Little he eat, and less he spoke, 
Kor mmgled with the menial flock ; 
And oft apart his arms he tossed, 
And often muttered, ** Lost! lost ! lost !'' 
He was waspish, arch, and litherlie, 
But well Lord Cranstoun served he : 
And he of his service was full fain ; 
For once he had been ta'en or slain, 

An' it had not been his ministry. 
All, betv/een Home and Hermitage, 
Talked of Lord Cranstoun^s goblin page. 

XXXHL 
For the baron went on pilgrimage. 
And took with him this elfish page. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 20 

To Mary's chapel of the Lowes ; 
For there/bCbide our ladyc's lake, 
And offering he had sworn to make, 

And he would pay his vows. 
But the ladye of Branksome gathered a band 
Of the best that would ride at her command ; 

The trysting place was Newark Lee- 
Wat of Harden came thither amain, 
And thither came John of Thirlestaine, 
And thither came William of Deloraine ; 

'i'hey were three hundred spears and three* 
Through Douglasburn, up Yarrow stream. 
Their horses prance, their lances gleam. 
They came to St. Mary's lake ere day ; 
But the chapel was void, and the baron awa}^ 
They burned the chapel for very rage. 
And cursed lord Cranstoun's goblin page. 

XXXIV. 

And now, in Branksome 's good green wood, 
As under the aged oak he stood; 
The baron's courser pricks his ears, 
As if a distant noise he her^rs. 
The dwarf waves his long lean arm on liigk^ 
And signs to the lovers to part and fly ; 
Ko time was then to vow or sigh. 
Fair Margaret, through the hazel grove, 
Flew Hke the startled cushat dove :d 
The dwarf the stirrup held and rein; 
Vaulted the knight on the steed amain, 
And, pondering deep that morning's scene. 
Rode eastward through the hawthorn's grecH. 

While thus he p' ured the lengthened tale, 
The Minstrel's - oice began to fail ; 
Full slyly smiler: the oljservant page, 
And gave the v. thered hand of age 

d Wood pigeon. 



20 THE LAY, Sec. Canto II. 

A goblet, crowned with mighty wine, 

The blood of Velez' scorched vine. 

He raised the silver cup on high, 

And, while the big drop filled his eye. 

Pray god to bless the duchess long. 

And all who cheered a son of song. 

The attending maidens smiled to see, 

How long, how deep, how zealously. 

The precious juice the Minstrel quaffed ; 

And he, emboldened by the draught, 

Looked gaily back to them, and laughed. 

The cordial nectar of the bowl 

Swelled his old veins, and cheered his soul; 

A ligTiter, livelier prelude ran, 

Ere thus his tale again began. 



THE 

LAY 

OF 

THE LAST MINSTREL, 

CANTO THIRD. 

A '• 

J?1lNd said I that my limbs were old; 

And said 1 that my blood was cold, 

And that my kindly fire was fled, 

And my poor withered heart was dead,. 

And that I might not sing of love ? 
HoAV could I to the dearest theme, 
That ever warmed a Minstrel's dream, 

So foul, so false, a recreant prove ! 
How could 1 name love's very name. 
Nor wake my harp to notes of flame ! 

II. 
In peace. Love tunes the shepherd's reed ; 
In war he mounts the warrior's steed ; 
In halls, in gay attire is seen; 
In hamlets, dances on the green, 
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. 
And men below, and saints above : 
For love is heaven, and heaven is love. 

IIL 
So thought Lord Cranstoun, as I ween, 
While, pondering deep the tender scene. 
He rode through Branksome's hawthorn green« 
But the page shouted wild and shrill. 

And scarce his helmet could he don. 
When downward from the shady hill 



5^ THE LAY OF Canto Ili 

A stately knight came pricking on. 
That warrior's steed so dapple gray, 
Was dark with sv;eat, and splashed with clay ; 

His armour red with many a stain: 
He seemed in such a weary plight, 
As if he had ridden the livelong night: 

For it was William of Deloraine. 
IV. 
But no whit weary did he seem^ 
When, dancing in the sunny beam. 
He marked the crane on the baron's crest ; 
For his ready spear was in his rest. 

Few were the words, and stern, and high^ 
That marked the foeman's feudal hate; 

For question fierce and proud reply. 
Gave signal soon of dire debate : 
Their very coursers seemed to know 
That each was other's mortal foe ; 
And snorted fire, when wheeled around, 
I'o give each knight his vantage ground. 

V . 
In rapid round the baron bent ; 

He sighed a sigh, and prayed a prayer ; 
The prayer was to his patron saint, 

The sigh was to his ladye fair. 
Stout Deloraine nor sighed, nor prayed, 
Nor saint, nor ladye, called to aid ; 
But he stooped his head, and couched his spear> 
And spurred his steed to full career. 
The meeting of these champions proud 
Seemed like the bursting thundercloud. 

vi. 

Stern was the dint the Borderer lent ! 
The stately baron backwards bent; 
Bent backwards to his horse's tail. 
And his plumes went scattered on the galcj 
The tough ash speai-, so stout and true, 
Into a thousand flinders flew. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 33 

But Cranstoun's lance of more avail, 

Pierced through, like silk, the 'Borderer's mail ; 

'llirough shield, and jack, and acton, past, 

Deep in his bosom, broke at last. 

Still sate the warrior saddle fast, 

Till, stumbling hi a mortal shock, 

Down went the steed, the girthing broke, 

Hurled on a heap lay man and horse. 

'liie baron onward passed his course ; 

Nor knevv', so giddy rolled his brain, 

His foe lay stretched upon the plain. 

vn. 

But when he reined his courser round. 
Arid saw his foeman on the ground 

Lie senseless as the bloody clay. 
He bade his page to staunch the wound. 

And there beside the warrior stay, 
And tend him in his doubtful state, 
And lead him to Branksome castle gate: 
His noble mind w^as inly moved 
For the kinsman of the maid he loved. 
" rhis shalt thou do without delay ; 
No longer here myself may stay : 
Unless tlie swifter I speed away. 
Short shrift v/ill be at my dying day." 

vni. 

Away in speed Lord Cranstoun rode ; 
The goblin page behind abode : 
His lord's command he ne'er withstood. 
Though small his pleasure to do good. 
As the corslet off he took. 
The dwarf espied the mighty book ! 
Much he marvelled a knight of pride, 
Like a bookbosomed priest, should ride ; 
He thought not to search or staunch the woundf, 
Until the secret he had found. 
D 



34 THE LAY OF Canto Hi. 

IX. 

The iron band, the iron clasp. 

Resisted long the elfin grasp ; 

For when the first he had undone, 

It closed as he the next begun. 

Those iron clasps, that iron band. 

Would not yield to unchristened hand, 

Till he smeared the cover o'er 

With the Borderer's curdled gore ; 

A moment then the volume spread. 

And one short spell therem he read. 

it had much of glamour a might. 

Could make a ladye seem a knight ; 

The cobwebs on a dungeon wall, 

Seem tapestry in lordly hall ; 

A nutshell seem a gilded barge, 

A sheeling b seem a palace large, ^ 

And youth seem age, and age seem youth, 

All was delusion, nought was truth. 

X. 
He had not read another spell. 
When on his cheek a buffet tell. 
Bo fierce, it stretched him, on the plam, 
Beside the wounded Delorame. 
From the ground he rose dismayed. 
And shook his huge and matted head ; 
One word he muttered, and no more . 
** Man of age, thou smitest sore. 
No more the elfin page durst try 
Into the wonderous book to pry '>^,, 
Kclasps!thoughsmearedwithChnstiangore, 

Shut faster than they were betore. 
He hid it underneath his cloak, 
Kow, if you ask who gave the stroke, 
1 cannot tell, so mot I thrive ; 
It was not given by man alive. 

CI Magical delusion. h A shepherd's hut. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. i 

XI 

Unwillingly himself he addressed. 
10 do his master's high behest : 
He lifted up the living corse, 

^"^^fd It on the weary horse; 
He led him into Branksome hall, 
Before the beards of the warders all • 

1 he. e only passed a wain of hav. 
He took him to lord David's tower 
5;;^" .^^heladye's secret bower • 

AndVh". ^'^^ ''r°Pger spells were spread 
And the door might not be opened ' 

He had laid him on her very bed 

Whateerhedidofgramarje!; 
Was always done maliciously 

A ^ wJ'^u^ '^^'■'■•or on the /round 

And the blood welled^reshl/fr^'She wouncL 

As he repassed the outer court, 

He ti^^^'^K^ ^^''•yo^ng child a sport • 

|:sts:Si^^--J:-^ 
o:^tirdi$;t!i^^^^^^^^^^^ 

Saw a terrier and Uircher paslngtt. 

^iS ^\^ ^°y ^'^^ bank and fell. 

Until they came to a woodland brook - 
The runmng stream dissolved the sSl ' 
r:^^^^'l°''"' «'fi* shape he took 

"ad sti angled him, in fiendish spleen; 



35 THE LAY OF Canto Ul. 

i„t his awful mother he had in dread, 

Aud darted through the toi est 

The woodlaiul brook he boundins ^^^^.v 

And laughed, and shouted. Lost . lo 

1 of-'thp Ponderous change, 
Full sore amazed ^^^^^^Jj^^^^ight be, 

And frightened, *f ''.^f '^ g.^-ange, 
At the wild yell ^^.ll'lKrlcJye, 

And the dark woiQs °^J>, ' 

The child, amid the forest 00 ;ei, 

CrUie V"'' ., Up iourneyed on, 
Thus, staruug oxt, tie jouin ^ 

Ring to the baying of a hound. 

, , A i^avk ' the deepmo-athed bark 
And hark! andhaik. ^n^. • j^^r ; 
Comes nigV^er sull. and m^^c^^,^^^^^ 

Bursts on the pa h ^ J^J^^^'.^e ground, 

n^r^sreretelhoffire. 

Soon it^^e-'ldlred child he saw, 

iTfl^w at him right ft^r^^^^^^^^^ 

I ween vou would ha\ e seeu 

The bearing of ^ S^^^^" ^^^L 

When, worthy ot his "*1^| 'f^^,. and ire, 

5:/tfd his little bat^onh.^^^^^ 
r.tS:SanVli:a;sfiy bayed. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 37 

But still in act to spring; 
When dashed an archer through the glade, 
And when he saw the hound was stayed, 

He drew his tough bowstring; 
But a rough voice cried, '* Shoot not, hoy! 
Ho! shoot not, Edward — 'tis a boy I'* 

XVL 
The speaker issued from the wood. 
And checked his fellow's surly mood. 

And quelled the bandog's ire. 
He was an English yeoman good. 

And born in Lancashire; 
Well could he hit a fallow deer. 

Five hundred feet him fro. 
With hand more true, and eye more clear. 

No archer bended bow. 
His coalblack hair, shorn round and close. 

Set off his sun burned face; 
Old England's 'sign, Saint George's cross, 

His barretcap did grace ; 
His bugle horn hung by his side. 
All in a wolfskin baldric tied ; 
And his short faulchion, sharp and clear, 
Had pierced the throat of many a deer. 

XVH. 
His kirtle, made of forest green. 

Reached scantly to his knee ; 
And, at his belt, of arrows keen 

A furbished sheaf bore he ; 
His buckler scarce in breadth a span. 

No longer fence had he; 
He never counted him a man. 

Would strike below the knee ; 
His slackened bow was in his hand. 
And the leash that was his bloodhound's band.. 

XVHI 
He would not do the fair child harm, 



38 THE LAY OF Canto. Ill- 

But held him with his powerful arm, 
That he might neither fight nor flee; 
For when the red cross spied he. 
The boy strove long and violently. 
** Now, by Saint George," the archer cries, 
*' Edward, methinks, we have a prize! 
This boy's fair face, and courage free, 
Shews he is come of high degree." 

XIX. 
** Yes ! I am come of high degree, 

For I am the heir of bold Buccleuch; 
And, if thou dost not set me free, 

False Southron thou shalt dearly rue ! 
For Walter of Harden shall come with speed 
And William of Deloraine, good at need. 
And every Scott from Eske to Tweed ; 
And, if thou dost not let me go, 
Despite thy arrows and thy bow, 
I'll have the hanged to feed the crow!" 

XX. 
'' Gramercy, for thy good will, fair boy ! 
My mind was never set so high ; 
But if thou art chief of such a clan, 
And art the sou of such a man, 
And ever comesttothy command. 

Our wardens had need to keep good order; 
My bow of yew to a hazel wand, 

Thou'lt make them work upon the Border. 
Meantime, be pleased to come with me, 
For good lord Dacre shalt thou see ; 
I think our work is well begun. 
When we have taken thy father's son." 

XXL 
Although the child was led away. 
In Branksome still he seemed to stay, 
For so the dwarf his part did play ; 
And, in the shape of that young boy, 
He wrought the castle much anaoy. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 39 

The comrades of the young Buccleuch 
He pinched, and beat, and overthrew ; 
Nay, some of them he well nigh slew. 
He tore Dame Maudlin's silken tire; 
And as Sym Hall stood by the fire, 
He lighted the match of his bandlier,(i 
And wofully scorched the hackbutteer. e 
It may hardly be thought, or said. 
The mischief that the urchin made, 
Till many of the castle guessed. 
That the young baron was possessed ' 
Well I ween, the charm he held 
The noble lady had soon dispelled; 
But she was deeply busied then 
To tend the wounded Deloraine. 

Much she wondered to find him lie, 

On the stone threshold, stretched along : 

She thought some spirit of the sky 

Had done the bold mosstrooper wrong: 
Because, despite her precept dread, 
Perchance he in the book had read; 
But the broken lance in his bosom stood, 
And it was earthly steel and wood. 

XXIII. 
She drew the splinter from the wound, 

And with a charm she staunched the blood , 
She bade the gash be cleansed and bound ; 

No longer by his couch she stood; 
But she has ta'en the broken lance, 

And washed it from the clotted gore. 

And salved the splinter o'er and o'er. 
William of Deloraine, in trance, 

When'er sVie turned it round an(^ round, 

Twisted as if she galled his wound. 

d BandeVier, belt for carryingamunition, 
€ Haikbuttecr, musketteer. 



40 THE LAY OF Canto. III. 

Then to her maidens she did say, 
That he should be whole man and sound, 

Within tile course of a night and dav< 
Full loi.g she toiled ; for she did rue 
Mishap to friend so stout and true. 

XXIV. 
So passed the day, the evening- fell, 
'Twas near the time of curfew bell; 
The air was mild, the wind was calm. 
The stream was smooth, the dew was balm ; 
E'en the rude watchman, on the tower, 
Enjoyed and blessed the lovely hour. 
Far more fair Margaret loved and blessed 
The hour of silence and of rest. 
On the high turret, sitting lone, 
She waked at times the lute's soft tone ; 
Touched a wild note, and all between 
Thought of the bower of hawthorn's grees; 
Her golden hair streamed free from band, 
Her fair cheek rested on her hand. 
Her blue eyes sought the west afar : 
For lovers love the western star. 

XXV. 
Is yon the star, o*er Penchryst Pen, 
That rises slowly to her ken. 
And, spreading broad its wavering light, 
Shakes its loose tresses on the night ? 
Is yon red glare the western star ^ 
O, 'tis the beacon blaze of war ! 
Scarce could she draw her tightened breath. 
For well she kne^v the lire of death ! 

XXVI. 
The warded viewed it blazing strong, 
And blew his warnote loud and long. 
Till, at the high and haughty sound. 
Rock, wood, and river, rung around ; 
The blast alarmed the festal hall. 
And startled forth the VY^arriors all^ 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 41 

Far downward, in the castle yard, 
Full many a torch andcreystt glared; 
And helms and plumes, confusedly tossed, 
\V ere in the blaze half seen, half lost ; 
And spears in wild disorder shook, 
Like reeds beside a frozen brook. 

XXViL 
The Seneschal, whose silver hair 
Was reddened by the torches' glare, 
Stood in the midst, with gesture proud. 
And issued forth his mandates loud. 
*' On Penchryst glows a baley of fire. 
And three are kindling on Priesthaughswire ; 

Ride out, ride out, 

The foe to scout ! 
Mount, mount for Branksome,^ every man? 
Thou, Todrig, warn the Johnstone clan, 

That ever are true and stout : 
Ye need not send to Liddesdale ; 
For, when they see the blazing bale, 
Elliots and Armstrongs never fail: 
Ride, Alton, ride, for death and life ! 
And warn the warden of the strife : 
Young Gilbert, let cur beacon blaze, 
Our kin, and clan and friends to raise. 

XXVIIL 
Fair Margaret, from the turret head. 
Heard, far below, the coursers' tread, 

While loud the harness rung, 
As to their seats, with clamour dread, 

The ready horsmen sprung ; 
And trampling hoofs, and iron coats, 
And leaders' voices, mingled notes, 

And out ! and out ! 

In hasty route, 

/ Bale, beacon faggot. g Mount for Branksome was 
,the gathering word cf the Scotts 



42 THE LAY OF Canto. IIL 

The horsemen galloped forth, 
Dispersing to the south to scout, 

And east, and west, and north, 
To view their coming enemies, 
And warn their vassals and allies. 

XXIX. 
The ready page, with hurried hand, 
Awaked the needfire's h slumbering brand , 

And ruddy blushed the heaven : 
For a sheet of fiame, from the turret high, 
Waved like a bloodfiag on the sky, 

All flaring and uneven ; 
And soon a score of fifes, I ween. 
From height, and hill, and cliff, were seen; 
Each with warlike tidings fraught : 
Each from each the signal caught ; 
Each after each they glanced to sight, 
As stars arise upon the night. 
They gleamed on many a dusky tarn,e 
Haunted by the lonely earn : A* 
On many a cairn's / gray pyramid, 
Where urns of mighty chiefs lie hid ; 
Till high Dunedin the blazes saw. 
From Soltra and Dumpender Law ; 
And Lothian heard the regent's order. 
That all should bowne m them for the Border. 

XXX. 
The livelong night in Branksome rang 

The ceaseless sound of steel; 
Thecastlebell, with backward clang, 

Sent forth the lariim peal ; 
Was frequent heard the heavy jar, 
Where massy stone and iron bar 
Were piled on echoing keep and tower. 
To whelm the foe with deadly shower ; 

h ^edjire, bacon. i lam, a mountain lake. 

k Ear?/, a Scottish eagle, w Boivne, make ready. 

/ Ga'ini, a pile of stones, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 43 

Was frequent heard the changing guard, 
And watchword from the sleepless ward; 
While, wearied by the endless din. 
Bloodhound and bandog yelled within. 

XXXL 
The noble dame, amid the broil, 
Shared the gray Seneschal's high toil, 
And spoke of danger with a smile ; 
Cheered the young knights, and council sage 
Held with the chiefs of riper age. 
No tidings of the foe were brought, 
Nor of his numbers knew they aught. 
Nor in what time the truce he sought. 

Some said that there were thousands ten ; 
And others weened that it was nought 

But Leven clans, or Tynedale men. 
Who came to gather in black mail;n 
And Liddesdale, with small avail. 

Might drive them lightly back agcn. 
So passed the anxious night away. 
And welcome was the peep of day. 



Ceased the high sound; the listening throng 

Applaud the Master of the Song; 

And marvel much, in helpless age. 

So hard should be his pilgrimage. 

Had he no friend, no daughter dear. 

His wandering toil to share and cheer ? 

No son, to be his father's stay, 

And guide him on the rugged way ? 

" Aye ' once he had — but he was dead !*' 

Upon the harp he stooped his head. 

And busied himself the strings withal, 

To hide the tear that fain would fall. 

In solemn measure, soft and slow, 

Arose a father's notes of wo. 

n Protection money exacted by freebooter?. 



THE 

LAY 

OF 

THE LAST MINSTREL. 

CAx\TO FOURTH. 

I. 

ik^weet Teviot ! on thy silver tide 

Tlie glaring balefires bl'ize no more ; 
No longer steelclad warriors ride 

Along thy wild and willowed shore ; 
Where'er thou wind'st by dale or hill, 
All, all is peaceful, all is still, 

x\s if thy waves since Time was born, 
Since first they rolled their way to Tweed, 
Had only heard the shepherd's reed, 

Nor started at the buglehorn. 
II. 
Unlijce the tide of human time, 

Which though it change in ceaseless flow, 
Retains each grief, retains each crime, 

Its earliest course was doomed to know ; 
And, darker as it downward bears, 
Is stained with past and present tears. 

Low as that tide has ebbed with me, 
It still reflects lo memory's eye, 
The hour my brave, my onlv boy, 

Fell by the side of great Dundee. 
Why, when the volleying musket played 
Against the bloody highland blade, 
VMiy was not 1 beside him laid ! 
Enough ; he died the death of fame ; 
Enough ; he died with conquering Grxme. 



THE LAY, &C. 45 

III. 

Now over Border, dale, and fell. 

Full wide and fai* was terror spread ; 
For pathless marsh, and mountani ceil, 

The peasant left his lowly shed. 
The frightened fiocks and herds were pent 
Beneath the peel's rude battlement ; 
And maids and matrons dropped the tear, 
While ready warriors seized the spear. 
From Branksome's towers, the watchman's eye 
Dun wreaths of distant smoke can spy, 
W hich, curling in the rising sun. 
Shewed southern ravage was begun. 

iv. 

Now loud the heedful gate ward cried, 

*' Prepare ye all for blows and blood I 
Watt Tinlinn, from the Liddle side. 
Comes wading through the flood. 
Full oft the Tynedale snatchers knock 
At his lone gate, and prove the lock ; 
It was but last Saint Barnabright, 
They sieged him a whole summer night, 
But fled at morning ; well they knew. 
In vain he never twanged the yew. 
Right sharp has been the evening shower. 
That drove him from his Liddle tower, 
And, by my faith," the gateward said, 
** I think 'twill prove a Wardenraid." a 

V. 

While thus he spoke, the bold yeoman 
Entered the echoing barbican. 
He led a small and shaggy nag, 
That through a bog, from hag to hag, d 
Could bound like any Bilhnpe stag : 
It bore his wife and children twain ; 

a An inroad comaiauded by the warden in person. 
6 The broken ground in a bog, c Bondsman. 



46 THE LAY OF Canto IV 

His wife, stout, ruddy, and darkbrowed, 

Of silver broach and bracelet proud, 

Laughed to her friends among the crowd. 

He was of stature passing tall, 

But sparely formed and lean withal : 

A battered morion on his brow ; 

A leathern jack as fence enow. 

On his broad shoulders loosely hung ; 

A borderaxe behind was slung ; 

His spear, six Scottish ells in length, 
Seemed newly dyed with gore ; 

His shafts and bow, of wondrous strength. 
His hardy partner bore. 

VL 

Thus to the ladye did Tinlinn shew 

The tidings of the English foe : 

** Belted Will Howard is marching here, 

And hot Lord Dacre with many a spear. 

And all the German hagbutmen, d 

Who long have lain at Askerten : 

They crossed the Liddle at curfew hour. 

And burned my little lonely tower ; 

The fiends receive their souls therefor I 

It had not been burned this year and more. 

Barnyard and dwelling blazing bright, 

Served to guide me on my flight ; 

But I was chased the livelong night. 

Black John of Akeshaw, and Fergus Gr«eme, 

Fast upon my traces came. 

Until I turned at Priesthaughscrogg, 

And shot their horses in the bog, 

Slew Fergus with my laiice outright ; 

I had him long at high despite : 

He drove my cows last Fastern's night." 

Akalfclothed serf c was all their train : 

d Musketeers, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. ^ 

VIL 

Now weary scouts from Liddesdale, 
Fast currying in confirmed the tale ; 
As far as they could judge by ken, 

Thi'ee hours would bring to 1 eviot's strand 
Three thousand armed Englishmen. 

Meanwhile full many a warlike band. 
From Teviot, Aill, and Ettrick's shade, 
Came in their chief's defence to aid. 

VIII. 
From fair Saint Mary's silver wave, 

From dreary Gamescleuch's dusky height^ 
His ready lances Thirlstane brave 

Arrayed beneath a banner bright. 
The tressured fleurdelucehe claims 
To wreathe his shield, since royal James, 
Encamp'd by Fala's mossy wave. 
The proud distinction grateful gave, 

For faith, mid feudal jars ; 
What time, save Thirlstane alone. 
Of Scotland's stubborn barons, none 

Would march to southern wars ; 
And hence, in fair remembrance worn. 
Yon sheaf of spears his crest has borne ; 
Hence, his high motto shines revealed, 
** Ready, aye, ready," for the field. 

IX. 
An aged knight, to danger steeled. 

With many a mosstrooper, came on ; 
And azure in a golden field, 
The stars and crescent graced his shield, 

Without the bend of Murdieston. 
Wide lay his lands round Oakwood tower, 
And wide round haunted Castleower ; 
High over Borth wick's mountain flood. 
His wood embosomed mountain stood ; 
In the dark glen, so deep below. 
The herds of plundered England low ; 



" 48 THE LAY OF Canto IV. 

His bold retainers' daily food. 
And bouirht with danger, blows, and blooa. 
Marauding chief: his sole delight ^ 
The moonlight raid, the morning tight; 
Kot even the flower of Yarrow's charms, 
In youth might tame his rage for arms ; 
And still in age he spurned at rest, 
And still his brows the helmet pressed ; 
Albeit the blanched locks below 
Were white as Dinlay's spotless snow ; 
Five stately warriors drew the sword 

Before their father's band ; 
A braver knight than Harden'slord 
Ne'er belted on a brand. 
X. 
Whitesdale the Hawk, and Headshaw came, 
And warriors more than I may name; 
And better hearts o'er Border sod 
To siege or rescue never rode. 

The ladve marked the aids come in, 
And high her heart of pride arose ; 
She bade her youthful son attend. 
That he might know his father's friend. 

And learn to face his father's foes. 
«' The boy is ripe to look on war ; 
I saw li'im draw a crossbow stiff. 
And his true arrow^ struck afar 
The raven's nest upon the cliff; 
The red cross, on a southern breast. 
Is broader than the raven's nest : ^ 
Thou, Whitsdale, shall teach him his weapon 

to wield, , . 1 1 » 

And o'er him hold his father s shield. 

XL 
\A'ell may vou think the wily page 
Cared not to face the lady sage. 
He counterfeited childish fear, 
\nd shrieked, and shed full many a tear, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 49 

And moar^ed and plained in nnanner v?ild. 

The attendants to the lady told, 
Some fairy, sure, had changed the child, 

That wont to be so free and bold. 
Then wrathful was the noble dame ; 
She blushed bloodred for very shame ; 
*' Hence J ere the clan his faintness view ; 
Hence with the weakling lo Buccleuch ! 
Watt Tinlinn thou shalt be his guide 
To Rangleburn's lonely side. 
Sure some fell fiend has cursed our line, 
That coward should e'er be son of mine V 

XIL 

A heavy task Watt Tinlinn had. 
To guide the counterfeited lad. 
Soon as his palfrey felt the weight 
Of that ill-omened elfish freight. 
He bolted, spi'ung, and reared amain, 
Nor heeded bit, nor curb, nor rein. 
It cost Watt Tinlinn mickle toil 
To drive him but a Scottish mile ; 

But;, as a shallow brook they crossed, 
1 he elf, amid, the running stream. 
His figure changed, like form in dream, 

And fled, and shouted, **Lost! lost! lost!" 
Full fast the urchin j?an and laughed. 
But faster still a clothyard shaft 
Whistled from startled Tinlinn's yew. 
And pierced his shoulder through and through. 
Although the imp might not be slain. 
And though the wound scon healed again, 
Yet, as he ran, he yelled for pain ; 
And Watt of Tinlinn, much aghast. 
Rode back to Branksome'fiei7 fast. 

XIH. 

^oon on the hill's steep verge he stood, 

rhat looks o'er Branksome's towers and wood : 



50 THE LAY OF Canto IV. 

And martial murmurs, from below, 
Proclaimed the approaching southern foe. 
Through the dark wood, in mingled tone. 
Were borderpipes and bugles blown ; • 
The coursers' neighing he could ken, 
And measured tread of marching men ; 
While broke at times the solemn hum, 
The Almyn's sullen kettle drum ; 
And banners tall, of crimson sheen, 

Above the copse appear ; 
\nd, glistening through the hawthorns green^ 
Shine helm, and shield, and spear. 
XIV. 
Lieht foray ers first, to view the ground, 
Spurred their fieet coursers loosely round ; 
Behind, in close array and fast, 

The Kendal archers, all m green, 
Obedient to the bugle blast, 

Advancing from the wood were seen. 
To back and guard the archer band. 
Lord Dacre's billmen were at hand ; 
\ hardy race, on Irthing bred. 
With kirtles white, and crosses red, 
\rrayed beneath the banner tall. 
That streamed o'er Acre's conquered wall ; 
And minstrels, as they marched m order. 
Played - Noble lord Dacre, he dwells on the 

Border." 

XV. 

Behind the English bill and bow. 
The mercenaries, firm and slow, 

Mo-ed on to fight, in dark array, 
By Conrad led of Wolfenstem, 
Who brought the band trom distant Rhme, 

And sold their blood for foreign pay ; 
The camp their home, their law the sword, 
They knew no country, owned no lord : 



\ 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 51 i 

They were not armed like England's sons, | 

But bore the levin darting guns ; j 

Buffcoats, all frounced and 'broidered o'er, j 

And morsing horns e and scarfs they wore ; 

Each better knee was bared, to aid 

The warriors in. the escalade ; 

All, as they marched, in rugged tongue, 

Songs of Teutonic feuds they sung. 

XVI. 
But louder still the clamour grew, 
And louder stili the minstrels blew, 
When, from beneath the greenwood tree, 

Rode forth lord Howard's chivalry ; f 

His men at arms, with glaive and spear. 
Brought up the battle's glittering rear. 
There many a youthful knight, full keen 
To gain his spurs, in arms was seen ; 
With favour in his crest, or glove, 
Memorial of his ladye's love,. 
So rode they forth in fair array, 
Till full their lengthened lines display ; 
Tlien called a halt, and made a stand, 
And cried, "SaintGeorge, for merry England!" 

XVIL 
Now every English eye, intent 
On Branksome's armed towers was bent ; 
So near they were, that they might know 
The straining harsh of each crossbow ; 
On battlement and bartizan/' 
Gleamed axe, and spear, and partizan; 
Falcon and culver,^ on each tower, 
Stood prompt, their deadly hail to shower; 
And flashing armour frequent broke 
From eddying whirls of sable smoke, 
Where, upon tower and turret head^ 

c Powder-flasks. / Battlement. 
^ Anciewt piece of artillery . 



52 THE LAY OF Canto IV. 

The seething pitch and molten lead 
Reeked, like a witch's cauldron red. 
While yet they gaze, the bridges fall, 
The wicket opes, and from the wall 
Hides forth the hoary Seneschal. 

xvin. 

Armed he rode, all save the head ; 

His white beard o'er his breastplate spread ; 

Unbroke by age, erect his seat, 

He ruled his eager courser's gait ; 

Forced him, with chastened fire to prance. 

And, high curvetting, slow advance : 

In sign of truce, his better hand 

Displayed a peeled willow wand ; 

His squire, attending in the rear, 

Bore high a gauntlet on a spear. 

When they espied him riding out, 

Lord Howard and Lord Dacre stout 

Sped to the front of their array. 

To hear what this old knight should say. 

XIX. 
•' Ye English warden lords, of you 
Demands the ladye of Buccleuch, 
Why, 'gainst the truce of Bordertide, 
In hostile guise ye dare to vide, 
With Kendal bow, and Gilsland brand, 
And all yon mercenary band. 
Upon the bounds of fair Scotland? 
My ladye reads you swith return ; 
And, if but one poor straw you burn, 
Or do our towers so much molest. 
As scare one swallow from her nest. 
Saint Mary ! but we'll light a brand, 
Shall v/arm your hearths in Cumberland." 

XX. 
A wrathful man v>^as Dacre's Lord, 
But calmer Howard took the word : 



II 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 



" May 't please thy dame, sir Seneschal, 
To seek the castle's outward wall ; 
Our pursuivant at arms shall shew. 
Both why we came, and when we go." 
The message sped, the noble dame 
To the wall's outward circle came ; 
Each chief around leaned on his spear, 
To see the pursuivant appear : 
All in lord Howard's livery dressed, * 
The lion argent decked his breast ; 
He led a boy of blooming hue ! 
O sight to meet a mother's view ! 
It was the heir of great Buccleuch. 
Obeisance meet the herald made. 
And thus his master's will he said : 

XXL 
** It irks, high dame, my noble lords, 
'Gainst ladye fair to draw their swords; 
But yet they may not tamely see, 
Ail through the western wardenry. 
Your law contemning kinsmen ride. 
And burn and spoil the Borderside; 
And ill beseems your rank and birth J 

To make your towers a flemen's firth. A i\ 

We claim from thee William of Deloraine, ' 

That he may suffer march treason pain : i 
It was but last Saint Cuthbert's even 
He pricked to Stapleton on Leven, 

Harried k the lands of Richard Musgrave, ^ 

And slew his brother by dint of glaive : 
Then, since a lone and widowed dame 
These restless riders may not tame, 
Either receive within thy towers, 
Two hundred of my master's powers, 

Or strait they sound their warrison, / \ 

And storm and spoil thy garrison ; 

h An asylum for outlaw?. i Border treason. 

k Plondered. i Not« of assault 



54 THE LAY OF CantoiV. 

And this fair boy, to London led, 
Shall good king Edward's page be bred." 
XXIL 

He ceased ; and loud the boy did cry. 
And stretched his little arms on high ; 
Implored for aid each well known face, 
And strove to seek the dame's embrace. 
A moment changed that ladye's cheer, 
Gushed to her eye the unbidden tear; 
She gazed upon the leaders round, 
And dark and sad each warrior frowned : 
Then, deep within her sobbing breast. 
She locked the struggling sigh to rest ; 
Unaltered and collected stood. 
And thus replied, in dauntless mood : 

XXIIL 
'* Say to thy lords of high em prize, 
Who war on women and on boys. 
That either William of Deioraine 
Will cleanse him, by oath, of march treason 

stain. 
Or else he will the combat take 
'Gainst Musgrave, for his honor sake. 
No knight in Cumberland so good, 
But William may count with him kin and blood: 
Knighthood he took of Douglas' sword. 
When English blood swelled Ancram ford : 
And but that lord Dacre's steed was wight, 
And bare him ably in the flight, 
Himself liad seen him dubbed a knight. 
For the young heir of Branksome's Ime, 
God be his aid, and God be mine 1 
Through me no friend shall meet his doom ; 
Here, while I live, no foe fmds room. 
Then, if thy lords their purpose urge, 
Take our defiance loud and high ; 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 55 

Our slogan is their lykewake ni dirge, 
Our moat, the grave where they shall lie." 
XXIV. 
Proud she looked rouud, applause to claim ; 
Then lightened Thirlestane's eye of flame ; 

His bugle Wat of Harden blew; 
Pensils and pennons wide v/ere flung, 
To heaven the Border slogan rung, 

" Saint Mary for the young Buccleuch !^' 
The English warcry answered wide. 

And forward bent each southern spear ^ 
Each Kendal archer made a stride, 

And drew the bowstring to his ear ; 
Each minstrel's warnote loud was blown : 
But, ere a gray goose shaft had flown, 

A horsman gallopped from the rear. 
XXV. 
*' Ah ! noble lords !" he, breathless, said, 
*' What treason has your march betrayed ^ 
What make you here, from aid so far,' 
Before you, walls, around you, war ? 
Your foemen triumph in the thought, 
That in the toils the lion's caught. 
Already on dark Ruberslaw 
The Douglass holds his weaponschaw ;w 
The lances, weaving in his train, 
Clothe the dun heath like autumn grain ; 
And on the Liddle's northern strand, 
To bar retreat to Cumberkind, 
Lord Maxwell ranks his merrymen good* 
Beneath the eagle and the rood ; 

And Jedwood, Esk, and Teviotdale, 
Have to proud Angus come; 

And all the Merse and Lauderdale 
Have risen with haughty Home. 

ra Lyken^ake, the watching a corpse previous to in tor- 
ment . 

ircapon^chaii'i ths mijitaiy array of a county. 



5$ THE LAY OF Canto IV. 

An exile from Northumberland , 
In Liddesdale I've wandered long ; 

Bat still my heart was with merry England, 
And cannot brook my country's wrong ; 
And hard I've spurred all night to show 
The mustering of the comine: foe." 

XXVI. 
" And let them come ?" fierce Dacre cried ; 
" For soon yon crest, my father's pride, 
Tiiat swept the shores of Judah's sea, 
And waved in gales of Galilee, 
From Branksome's highest tower displayeo, 
Shall mock the rescue's lingering aid I 
Level each harquebuss on row ; 
Draw, merry archers, draw the bow ; 
Up, billmen, to the walls, and cry, 
Dacre for England, \vin or die !'' 

XXVII. 
'' Yet hear," quoth Howard, ** calmly hear, 
Nor deem my words the words of fear ; 
For Y/ho in field or foray slack 
Saw the blanche lion e'er fall back ^ 
But thus to risk our Border flower 
in strife against a kingdom's power. 
Ten thousand Scots 'gainst thousands three, 
C'ertes, were desperate policy. 
Nay, take the terms the ladye made, 
Ere conscious of the advancing aid : 
Let Musgrave meet fierce Deloraine 
In single fight ; and if he gain. 
He gains for us : but if he's crossed, 
'Tis but a single warrior lost : 
rhe rest, retreating as they came. 
Avoid defeat, death, and shame-." 

XXVIII. 
ill could the haughty Dacre brook 
His brother warden's sage rebuke ; 
And yet his forward step he stayed> 



I 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 5r 

And slow and sullenly obeyed. 

But ne'er again the Borderside 

Did these two lords in friendship ride ; 

And this slight discontent, men say. 

Cost blood upon another dav. 

XXIX. ' 
The pursuivant at arms again 

Before the castle took his stand ; 
His trumpet called, with parleying strain, 

Tiie leaders of the Scottish band ; 
And he defied, in Musgrave's right. 
Stout Deloraine to single fight ; 
A gauntlet at their feet he laid. 
And thus tlie terms of fight he said : 
*' If in the lists of good Musgrave's sword 

Vanquish the knight of Deloraine, 
Youf youthful chieftain, Branksome's lord. 

Shall hostage for his clan remain : 
If Deloraine foil good Musgrave, 
The boy his liberty shall have. 

Hov/e'er it falls, the English band, 
UnharmingScotts, by Scots unharmed, 
In peaceful march, like men unarmed. 

Shall straight retreat to Cumberland." 
XXX. 
Unconscious of the near relief* 
The proffer pleased each Scottish chief. 

Though much the ladye sage gainsayed : 
For though their hearts were brave and true, 
From Jedwood's recent sack they knew. 

How tardy was the regent's aid ; 
And you may guess the noble dame 

Durst not the secret prescience own, 
Sprung from the art she might not name, 

By which the coming help was known. 
Closed was the compact, and agreed 
That lists should be enclosed with speed 

Beneath the castle, on a lawn : 



ij 



^8 THE Lx\Y OF Canto IV. 

They fixed the morrow for the strife, 
On foot, with Scottish axe and knife 

At the fourth hour from peep of dawn ; 
When Dcloraine, from sickness freed, 
Or else a champion in his stead, 
Should for himself and chieftain stand, 
Against stout Musgrave, hand to hand. 

xxxr. 

I know right well, that, in their lay. 
Full many minstrels sing and say, 

Such combat should be made on horse, 
On foaming steed, in full career. 
With brand to aid, when as the spear 

Sliould shiver in the course : 
But he, the jovial Harper taught 
Me, yet a youth, how it was fought. 

In guise which now I say ; 
He knev^ each ordinance and clause 
Of black lord Archibald's battle laws, 

In the old Douglass' day. 
He brooked not, he, that scofnng tongue 
Should tax his minstrelsy with wrong, 

Or call his song untrue : 
For this, when they the goblet plied. 
And such rude taunt had chafed his pride, 

The Bard of ReuU he slew. 
On Teviot's side, in fight, they stood, 
And tuneful hands v/erc stained with blood; 
Where still the thorn's white branches wave, 
Memorial o'er his rival's grave. 

XXXII. 
Why should I tell the rigid doom, 
That dragged my master to his tomb; 

How Ousenam's maidens tore their hair, 
Wept till their eyes were dead and dim, 
And wrung their hands for love of him, 

W ho died at Jed wood Air ? 
He died! Hji. j^cholars, one by one, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 59 

To the cold silent grave are gone ; 

And I, alas ! survive alone, 

To muse o'er rivalries of yore. 

And grieve that I shall hear no more 

The strains which envy heard before ; 

For, with my minstrel brethren fled. 

My jealousy of song is dead. 

He paused : the listening dames again 

Applaud the hoary Minstrel's strain ; 

With many a word of kindly cheer, I 

In pity half, and half sincere, ''M 

Marvelled the duchess how so well 

His legendary song could tell. 

Of ancient deeds, so long forgot ; 

Offends, whose memory was not ; 

Of forests, nov/ laid waste and bare ; 

Of towers, which harbour now the hare; 

Of manners, long since changed and gone ; 

Of c}}iefs, who under their gray stone 

So long had slept, that fickle Fame 

Had blotted from her rolls their name, 

And twined round some new minion's head 

The fading wreath for which they bled : 

In sooth, 'twas strange, this old man's verse 

Could call them from their marble hearse. 

The harper smiled, well pleased ; for ne'er 
Was flattery lost on poet's ear : 
A simple race I they vv^aste their toil 
For the vain tribute of a smile ; 
E'en v/hen in age their flame expires. 
Her dulcet breath can fan its fires ; 
Their da'ooping fancy w^akes at praise, 
And strives to trim the shortlived blaze. 

Smiled then, well pleased, the Aged Man, 
And thus his tale^ continued, ran. 



THE 

LAY 

OP 

THE LAST MINSTREL. 

CANTO FIFTH. 

vy ALL it not vain : they do not err. 

Who say, that, when the poet dies. 
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, 

And celebrates his obsequies ; 
Who say, tall clilf, and cavern lone, 
For the departed bard make moan; 
That mountains weep in chrystal rill ; 
That flowers in tears of balm distil ; 
Through his loved groves that breezes sigh, 
And oaks, in deeper groan, reply ; 
And rivers teach their rushing wave 
To murmur dirges round his grave. 

II. 
Kot that, in sooth, o'er mortal urn 
Those things inanimate can mourn ; 
But that the stream, the wood, the gale, 
Is vocal with tlie plaintive wail 
Of those, who, else, forgotten long, 
Lived in the poet's faithful song, 
And, wath the poet's parting breath, 
Whose memory feels a second death. 
The maid's pale shade, who wails her lot, 
rhat love, true love, should be forgot. 



THE LAY, &c. 61 

From rose and hawthorn shakes the tear 

Upon the gentle Minstrel's bier : 

The phantom knight, his glory fled. 

Mourn 's o'er the field he heaped with dead; 

Mounts the wild blast that sweeps amain. 

And shrieks along the battleplain: 

The chief, whose antique crownlet long 

Still sparkling in the feudal song, 

Now, from the mountain's misty throne, 

Sees, in the thanedom once his own, 

His ashes undistinguished li^i, 

His place, his power, his liiemorydie: 

His groans the lonely cavenis fill, 

His tears of rage impel tht: rill ; 

All mourn the Minstrel's harp unstrung. 

Their name unknown, their praise unsung. 

III. 

Scarcely the hot assault was staid. 

The terms of truce were scarcely made, 

W hen they could spy, from Branksome's towers; 

The advancing march of martial powers ; 

Thick clouds of dust afar appeared. 

And trampling steeds were faintly heard ; 

Spearheads, above the columns dun, 

Glanced momentary to the sun ; 

And feudal banners fair displayed 

The bands that moved to Branksome's aid; 

IV. 

Vails not to tell each hardy clan. 

From the fair Middlem arches came ; 
The Bloody Heart blazed in the van. 

Announcing Douglas, dreaded name ! 
Vails not to tell what steeds did spiirn, 
Where the Seven Spears of Wedderbumc 

Their men in battleorder set; 
And Swintcn laid the lance in rest, 
That tamed of yore the sparkling cresl 



62 THE LAY OF Canto V. 

Of Clarence's Plantagenet, 
Kor list's I say, what hundreds more. 
From the rich Merse and Lammermore, 
And Tweed's fair borders, to the war, 
Beneath the crest of old Dunbar, 

And Hepburn's mingled banners, come, 
Down the steep mountain, glittering far, 

And shouting still, *'AHome! A Home I'*' 
V. 
Now squire and knight, from Branksome sent,. 
On many a courteous message went ; 
To every chief and lord they paid 
Meet thanks for prompt and powerful aid ; 
And told them how a truce was made, 
_ And how a day of fight was ta'en 
^Tvvixt Musgrave and stout Deloraine; 

And how the ladye prayed them dear, 
That all would stay the fight to see, 
And deign in love and courtesy, 

To taste of Branksome cheer. 
Nor, while they bade to feast each Scot, 
Were England's noble lords forgot ; 
Himself, the hoary Seneschal, 
Rode forth, in seemly terms to call 
Those gallant foes to Branksome Hall. 
, Accepted Howard, than whom knight 
Was never dubbed, more bold in fight; 
Nor, when from war and armour free, 
More famed for stately courtesy : 
But angry Dacre rather chose 
In his pavilion to repose. 
VI. 
Now, noble dame, perchance you ask. 

How these two hostile armies met .** 
Deeming it were no easy task 

To keep the truce which here was set ; 
Where martial spirits, ail on fire, 
Breathed only blocd and mortal ire. 



THE LAST MINSTREL, 63 

By mutual inroads, mutual blows, 
By habit, and by nation, foes, 

They met on Teviot's strand: 
They met, and sate them mingled downj. 
Without a threat, without a frown, 

As Brothers meet in foreign land. 
The hands, the spear that lately grasped^ 
Still in the mailed gauntlet clasped, 

Were interchanging in greeting dear ; 
Visors were raised, and f^ices shewn, 
And many a friend, to friend made known^ 

Partook of social cheer. 
Some drove the jolly bowl about ; 

With dice and draughcs some chaseiltheday ; 
And some, with many a merry shout, 
In riot, revelry, and rout. 

Pursued the football play. 

VIL 

Yet, be it known, had bugles blown, 

Or sign of war been seen ; 
Those bands, so fair together ranged. 
Those hands, so frankly interchanged, 

Had dyed with gore the green : 
The merry shout by Teviotside 
Dad sunk in warcries wild and wide, 

And in the groan of death ; 
And whingers, a now in friendship bare, 
The social meal to part and share, 

Had found a bloody sheath. 
'Twixt truce and war, such sudden change, 
Was not unfrequent, nor held strange, 

In the old Borderday ; 
But yet on Branksome's towers and town. 
In peaceful merriment sunk down 

The sun's declining ray. 

a A sort of knife, or poniard. 



i 



^4 THE LAY OF Canto V. 

VIII. 

Theblithsome signs of wassel gay 
Decayed not with the dying day ; 
Soon through the latticed windows tail, 
Of lofty Branksome's lordly hall. 
Divided square by shafts of stone, 
Huge flakes of ruddy lustre shone ; 
Nor less the gilded rafters rang 
With merrv harp and beakers clang; 
And frequent, on the darkening plain. 

Loud halio, whoop, or whistle ran. 
As bands, their straglers to regam,^ 

Give the shviU watchword ot their clan ; 
\vd revellers, o'er their bowels, proclaim 
Douglas or Dacre's conquering name. 

IX. 

Less frequent heard, and fainter still, 

At length the various clamours died; 
\rH you might hear, from Branksome hill, 

No sound luit Teviot's rushing tide ; 
Save, when the changing centinel 
The challenge of his watch could tell ; 
And save, where, through the dark profound, 
The clanging axe and hammer's sound 

Rung from the nether lawn ; 
IP or many a busv hand toiled there. 
Strong pales to"'shape, and beams to square, 
The lists' dread barriers to prepare, 
Against the morrow's dawn. 
X. 
Margaret from hall did soon retreat, 
Despit'^ the dame's reproving eye; 
Nor marked she as she left her seat, 

Full many a stifled sigh : 
For many a no1)le warrior strove 
To win the flower of Teviot's love, 
And many a bold ally. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 6S 

With throbbing head and anxious heart, 
All in her lonely bower apart. 

In broken sleep she lay ; 
By times, from silken couch she rose; 
While yet the bannered hosts repose^ 

She viewed the dawning day : 
Of all the hundreds sunk to rest. 
First woke the loveliest and the best. 

XI. 
She gazed upon the inner court, 

Which in the tower's tall shadow lay ; 
Where coursers' clang, and stamp, and snort. 

Had rung the livelong yesterday. 
Now, still as death ! till, stalking slow, 

The jingling spurs announce his tread; 
A stately warrior passed below ; 
But when he raised his plumed head, 
Blessed Mary ! can it be ? 
Secure, as if in Ousenam bowers, 
He walks through Branksome's hostile tower/^. 

With fearless step, and free. 
She dare not sign, she dare not speak, 
Oh ! if one page's slumbers break, 

His biood the price must pay ! 
Not all the pearls queen Mary wears. 
Not Margaret's yet more precious tears 
Shall buy his life a day. 
XH. 
vet was nis hazard small, for well 
Vou may bethink you of the spell 

Of that sly urchin page ; 
'i'his to his lord he did impart, 
And made him seem, by glamour art, 

A knight from Hermitage. 
Unchallenged, thus, the warder's post, 
Ihe court unchallenged, thus he crossed, 

For all the vassalage : 
But, O what magic's quaint disguise 



m THE LAY OF Canto V. 

Could blind fair Margaret's azure eye» f 

She started from her seat; 
While with surprise and fear she strove, 
And both could scarcely master love : 
Lord Henry's at her feet. 
XHL 
Oft have I mused what purpose bad, 
That foul malicious urchin had 
To bring this meeting round; 
For happy Love's a heavenly sight, 
And by a vile mahgnant spi'ite 

In such no joy is found : , *i, r - 

And oft I've deemed, perchance he thought 
Their erring passion might have wrought 
borrow, and sin, and shame; , . w 

And death to Cranstoun's gallant knigli^ 
And to the gentle ladye bright, 

Disgrace, and loss of fame. 
But earthly spirit could not tell 
The heart of them that loved so we^. ; 
True love's the gift which God has given 
To man alone beneath the heaven. 
It is not Fantasy's hot lire, 
Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly ; 
It liveth not in fierce desire, 

With dead desire it doth not die ; 
It is the secret sympathy, 
The silver cord, the silken tie, 
Wliich heart to heart, and mind to muid. 
In body and in soul can bind. 
Now leave we Margaret and her knight 
To tell you of the approaching fight. 

XIV. 
Their warning blast the bugles blew, 

The pipe's shrill port b aroused each Glaa ; 
In haste the deadly strife to view, 

h A mnrtia^ ncce of xfvislc, adapted t3 tV^-nipe^. 



^ 



THE LAST MINSTREL. ^ 

The trooping warriors eager ran. 
Thick round the lists their lances stood, 
Like blasted pines in Ettricke wood; 
To Branksome many a look they threw, 
The combatant's approach to view. 
And bandied many a word of boast 
About the knight each favoured most. 

XV. 
Meantime full anxious was the dame ; 
For now arose disputed claim 
Of who should fight for Deloraine, 
'Twixt Harden and 'twixt Thirlestaine ; 
They 'gan to reckon kin and rent, 
And frowning brow on brow was bent ; 

But yet not long the strife; for lo ! 
Himself, the knight of Deloraine, 
Strong, as it seemed, and free from pain, 

In armour sheathed from top to toe» 
Appeared, and craved the combat due, 
The dame her charm successful knew, c 
And the fierce chiefs their claims withdreWt 

XVL 
When for the lists they sought the plain,. 
The stately ladye's silken rein 

Did noble Howard hold r 
Unarmed by her side he walked, 
And much, in courteous phrase they talked 

Of feats of arms of old. 
Costly his garb, his Flemish ruit 
Fell o'er his doublet, shaped of buff. 

With satin slashed and lined ; 
Twany his boot, and gold his spur, 
His cloak was all of Poland fur. 
His hose with silver twined ; 
His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt. 
Hung in a broad and studded belt ; 

r v'^cs: p. 39, Vv^r?'? twenty tliivtV 



68 THE LAY OF Canto V. 

Hence, in rude phrase, the Borderers still 
Call noble Howard, Belted Will. 

xvn. 

Behind Lord Howard and the dame, 
Fair Margaret on her palfrey came, 

Whose footcloth swept the ground ; 
White was her whimple, and her veil. 
And her loose locks a chaplet pale 

Of whitest roses bound ; 
The lordly Angus by her side. 
In courtesy to cheer her tried ; 
W' ithout his aid, her hand in vain 
Had strove to guide her broidered rein. 
He deemed she shuddered at the sight 
Of warriors met for mortal fight ; 
But cause of terror all unguessed, 
Was fluttering on her gentle breast, 
When in their chairs of crimson placed, 
The dame and he the barriers graced* 

XVHL 
Prize of the field, the young Buccleuch, 
An English knight led forth to view ; 
Scarce rued the boy his present plight. 
So much he longed to see the fight. 
Within the lists, in knightly pride. 
High Home and haughty Dacre ride ; 
Their leading staffs of steel they wield, 
As marshals of the mortal field ; 
Then heralds hoarse did loud proclaim. 
In king, and queen, and warden's name, 

That none, while lasts the strife. 
Should dare, by look, or sign, or word, 
Aid to a champion to afford, ^ 

On peril of his life. 
Then not a breath the silence broke. 
Till thus the alternate hearlds spoke. 



I 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 69 

XIX. 

ENGLISH HERALD. ' 

Here standeth Richard of Musgrave, 

Good knight, and true, and freely born, 
Amends from Deloraine to crave, 

For foul despiteous scathe and scorn. 
Hesayeth, that William of Deloraine 

Is traitor false by Border laws ; 
This with his sword he will maintain, 

So help him God, and his good cause t 
XX. 

SCOTTISH HEARLD. 

Here standeth William of Deloraine, 
Good knight, and true, of noble strain. 
Who sayeth, that foul treason's stain, 
Since he bore arms ne'er soiled his coat. 
And that, so help him God above. 
He will on Musgrave's body prove, 
He lies most foully in his throat. 

LORD DACRE. 

Forward, brave champions, to the fight ? 
Sound trumpets 

LORD HOME. 

■ God defend the right ! 
At the last word, with deadly blows, 
The ready warriors fiercely close. 

XXI. 

Ill would it suit your gentle ear. 
Ye lovely listeners, to hear 
How to the axe the helms did sound, 
And blood poured down from many a wound ; 
For desperate was the strife, and long, 
And either warrior fierce and strong. 
But were each dame a listening knight 
I well could tell how warriors fight ; 
For I have seen war's lightning flashing. 
Seen the claymore with bayonet clashing, 
Seen through red blood the warhorse dashing, 



\ 

1 



r%> THE LAY OF Canto V. 

And scorn amid the reeling strife, 
To yield a step for death or life. 

XXII. 
'Tis done, 'tis done ! that fatal blow 

Has stretched him on the bloody plain; 
He strives to rise ! Brave Musgrave, no ! 

Thence never shalt thou rise again ! 
He chokes in blood ! some friendly hand 
Undo the visors barred band ; 
Unfix the gorget's iron clasp. 
And give him room for life to gasp ! 
In vain, in vain! haste, holy friar. 
Haste, e'er the sinner shall expire ! 
Of all his guilt let him be shriven, 
And smooth his path from earth to heaven. 

XXIIL 
In haste the holy friar sped. 
His naked foot was dyed with red, 

As through the lists he ran; 
Unmindful of the shouts on high, 
That hailed the conqueror's victory, 

He raised th« dying man ; 
Loose waved his silver beard and hair. 
As o'er him he kneeled down in prayer; 
And still the crucifix on high, 
He holds before his darkening eye. 
And still he bends an anxious ear, 
His faultering penitence to hear ; 

Still props him from the bloody sod. 
Still, even when soul and body part. 
Pours ghostly comfort on his heart. 

And bids him trust in God ! 
Unheard he prays ; 'tis o'er, 'tis o'er ! 
Richard of Musgrave breathes no more. 

XXIV. 
As if exhausted in the fight, 
Of musing o'er the piteous sight. 

The silent victor stands; 



THE LAST MINSTREL. n 

His beaver did he not unclasp, 

Marked not the shouts, felt not the grasp 

Of gratulating hands. 
When lo ! strange cries of wild surprise^ 
Mingled with seeming terror, rise 

Among the Scottish bands ; 
And all amid the thronged arrav, 
In panic haste gave open way. 
Tea half naked ghastly man, 
Who downward from the castle ran ; 
He crossed the barriers at a bound, 
And wild and haggard looked around, 

As dizzy, and in pain ; 
And all, upon the armed ground. 

Knew William of Deloraine ! 
Each ladye sprung from seat with speed i 
Vaulted each marshal from his steed ; 

" And who art thou," they cried, 
** Who hast this battle fought and won?" 
His plumed helm was soon undone ; 

*' Cranstoun of Teviotside ! 
For his fair prize I've fought and won." 
And to the ladye led her son. 

XXV. 
Full oft the rescued boy she kissed. 
And often pressed him to her breast; 
For, under all her dauntless show. 
Her heart had throbbed at every blow ; 
Yet not lord Cranstoun deign she greet. 
Though low he kneeled at her feet. 
Me lists not tell what words were made, 
What Douglas, Home, and Howard said ; 

(For Howard was a generous foe) 
And how the clan united prayed. 

The ladye would the feud forego, 
And deign to bless the nuptial hour 
Of Cranstoun's Lord and Teviet's Flower, 



7^ THE LAY OF Canto V. 

XXVI. 

She looked to river, looked to hill, 

Thought on the spirit's prophecy, 
Then broke her silence stern and still, 

" Not you, but fate, has vanquished me ; 
Their influence kindly stars may shower 
On Teviot's tide and Brank^ome's tower, 

For pride is quelled, and love is free.'' 
She took fair Margaret by the hand. 
Who, breathless, trembling, scarce might stand 

That hand to Cranstoun's lord gave she. 
*' As I am true to thee and thine. 
Do thou be true to me and mine ! 

This clasp cf love our bond shall be ;- 
For this is your betrothing day, 
And all these noble lords shall stay. 

To grace it with their company,'* 
XXVII. 
All as they left the listed plain. 
Much of the story she did gain. 
How Cranstoun fought with Deloraine, 
And of his page, and of the book. 
Which from the wounded knight he took ; 
And how he sought her castle high. 
That morn, by help of gramarye ; 
How, in Sir William's armour dight, ^ 
Stolen by his page, while slept the knight. 
He took on him the single fight. 
But half his tale he left unsaid. 
And lingered till he joined the maid. 
Cared not the ladye to betray 
Her mystic arts in view of day ; 
But well she thought when midnight came, 
Of that strange page the pride to tame, 
From his foul hands the book to save,' 
And send it back to Michael's grave. 
Needs not to tell each tender word 
'Tvfixt Margaret and 'twixt Cranstoun's lord; 



^ 

'^ 



THE LA.ST MINSTREL. 7-e 

Nor how she told of former woes, 

And how her bosom fell and rose, 

While he and Musgrave bandied blows; 

Needs not these lover's joys to tell; 

One day, fair maids, you'll know them well*. . 

XXVIII. 
William of Deloraine, some chance, 
Had wakened from his deathlike trance ; 
And taught that, in the listed plain, 
Another, in his arms and shield. 
Against fierce Musgrave axe did wield. 
Under the name of Deloraine. 
Hence, to the field, unarmed, he ran. 
And hence his presence scared the clan. 
Who held him for some fleeting wraith, d 
And not a man of blood and breath. 
Not much this new ally he loved, 
Yet, when he saw what hap had proved, 

He greeted him right heartilie. 
He would not waken old debate. 
For he was void of rancorous hate, 
Though rude, and scant of courtesy ; 
In raids, he spilt but seldom blood. 
Unless when men at arms withstood, 
Or, as was meet, for deadly feud. 
He ne'er bore grudge for stalwart blow, 
Ta'en in fair fight from gallant foe : 
And so 'twas seen of him ; e'en now, 

When on dead Musgrave he looked dowa 
Grief darkened on his rugged brow. 
Though half disguised with a frown ; 
And thus, while sorrow bent his head. 
His foeman's epitaph he made. 

XXIX. 
" Now, Richard Musgrave, lie st thou here ? 
I ween, my deadly enemy, 

d The spectral apparition of a liriog persoit* 



r4 THE LAY OP Canto V. 

For if I slew thy brother dear. 

Thou slewest a sister's son to me ; 
And when I lay in dungeon dark, 

Of Na worth Castle, long months three. 
Till, ransomed for a thousand mark. 

Dark Musgrave, it was long of thee. 
And, Musgrave, could our fight be tried, 

And thou wert now alive, as I, 
Ko mortal man should us divide. 

Till one, or both of us, did die : 
Yet, rest thee God ! for well I know, 
I ne'er shall find a nobler foe ! 
In all the northern counties here, 
Whose words is, Snafle, spur, and spear, -e 
Thou wert the best to follow gear ; 
'Twas pleasure as we looked behind. 
To see how thou the chase couldst wind, 
Cheer the dark bloodhound on his way, 
And with the bugle rouse the fray ! 
I'd give the lands of Deloraine, 
Dark Musgrave were alive again." 

XXX. 
So mourned he, till, lord Dacre*s band 
Were bowning back to Cumberland. 
They raised brave Musgrave from the field, 
And laid him on his bloody shield; 
On levelled lances, four and four. 
By turns, the noble burden bore. 
Before, at times, upon the gale, 
Was heard the Minstrel's plaintive wail; 
Behind, four priests, in sable stole. 
Sung requiem for the warrior's soul ; 
Around, the horsemen slowly rode; 
With trailing pikes the spearmen trod; 

e The lands, that over Ouse to Berwick forth do bear, 
Have for their blazon had, the snalie, spur, and spear. 
PolyaMony Song xxxiii* 



THE LAST MINSTREL. tS 

And thus the gallant knight they boi'c, 
Through Liddesdale to Leven's shore, 
Thence to Holme Coh:rame»s lofty nave, 
And laid him in his father'^ grave 
The harp's wild notes, though hushed the song, 
The mimic march of death prolong. 
Now seems it far, and now anear, 
Now meets, and now eludes the ear ; 
Now seems some mountain's side to sweep, 
Now faintly dies in valley deep ; 
Seems now as if the Minstrel's wail. 
Now the sad requiem loads the gale ; 
Last, o'er the warrior's closing grave, 
Rung the full choir in choral stave. 

After due pause they bade him tell. 
Why he, who touched the harp so well, 
Should thus, with ill rewarded toil. 
Wander a poor and thankless soil, 
When the more generous southern land 
Would well requite his skilful hand. 

The Aged Harper, howsoe'er 
His only friend, his harp, was dear. 
Liked not to hear it ranked so high 
Above his flowing poesy ; 
Less liked he still that scornful jeer 
Misprized the land he loved so dear : 
High was the sound, as thus again 
The Bard resumed his minstrel strain. 



LAY 

OF 

THE LAST MINSTREL. 

CANTO SIXTH. 

xJreathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land ! 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned. 

From wandering on a foreign strand! 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well ; 
For him no Minstrel raptures swell ; 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim ; 
Despite those titles, power, and pelf, 
The wretch, concentered all in self, 
Living, shall forfeit fair reknown. 
And, doubly dying, shall go down 
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 
Unw^ept, unhonoured, and unsung, 

II. 
O Caledonia ! stern and wild. 
Meet nurse for a poetic child ! 
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 
Land of the mountain and the flood. 
Land of my sires ! what mortal hand 
Can e'er untie the filial band. 
That knits me to thy rugged strand t ^ 



"^ 



\ 



THE LAY, 6cc. 77 

Still, as I View each well known scene. 

Think what is now, and what hath been, 

Seem as, to me, of all bereft, 

Sole friends, thy woods and streams were left ; 

And thus I love them lietter still. 

Even in extremity of ill. 

By Yarrow's stream still let me stray. 

Though none should guide my feeble way ; 

Still feel the breeze down Ettricke break, 

Although it chill my withered cheek ; 

Still lay my head by Teviot stone, 

Though there forgotten and alone. 

The bard may draw his parting groan. 

III. 

Not scorned like me ! to Branksome Hall 
The minstrels came, at festive call ; 
Trooping they came, from near and far. 
The jovial priests of mirth and war ; 
Alike for feast and fight prepared, 
Battle and banquet both they shared. 
Of late, before each martial clan. 
They blew their deathnote in the van ; 
But now, for every merry mate. 
Rose the Portcullis' iron grate ; 
They sound the pipe, they strike the string, 
They dance, they revel, and they sing, 
Till the rude turrets shake and ring. 

IV. 

Me lists not at this tide declare 

The splendour of the spousal rite, 
How mustered in the chapel fair. 

Both maid and matron, squire and knight ; 
Me lists not tell of owches rare. 
Of mantles green, and braided hair, I , 

And kirtles furred with miniver; 

What plumage waved the altar round, <'j 

How spurs, and ringing chainlets, sound : 



n THE LAY OF Canto. Vt- 

And hard it were for bard to speak 
The changeful hue ©f Margaret's cheek ; 
That lovely hue, which comes and flies, 
As awe and shame alternate rise! 

V. 
Some bards have sung, the ladye high 
Chapel or altar came not nigh ; 
Nor durst the rites of spousal grace, 
So much she feared each holy place. 
False slanders these : I trust right well, 
She wrought not by forbidden spell ; 
For, mighty words and signs have .power 
O'er sprites in planetary hour ; 
Yet scarce I praise their venturous part, 
Who tamper with such dangerous art. 

But this for faithful truth I say. 
The ladye by the altar stood. 

Of sable velvet her array, 

And on her head a crimson hood. 
With pearls embroidered and entwined, 
Guarded with gold, with ermine lined ; 
A merlin sat upon her wrist. 
Held by a leash of silken twist. 

VI. 
The spousal rites were ended soon ; 
'Twas now the merry hour of noon. 
And in the lofty arched hall 
Was spread the gorgeous festival : 
Steward and squire, with heedful haste, 
Marshalled the rank of every guest ; 
Pages, with ready blade, were there. 
The mighty meal to carve and share. 
0*er capon, heronshew, and crane. 
And princely peacock's gilded train> 
And o'er, the hoarhead, garnished brave, 
And cygent from Saint Mary's wave ; 
O'er ptarmigaa and venison, 
The pricvt hn"^ ^];^'^ko h.^; bcriscn. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 73 

Then rose the riot and the din, 

Above, beneath, without, within! 

For, from the lofty balcony, 

Rung trumpet, shalm, and psaltery; 

Their clanging bowls old warriors quaffed, 

Loudly they spoke, and loudly laughed ; 

Whispered young knights, in tone more mild, 

To ladies fair, and ladies smiled. 

The hooded hawks, high perched on beam. 

The clamour joined with whistling scream, 

And flapped their wings, and shook their bellSj 

In concert with the staghounds' yells. 

Round go the flasks of ruddy wine. 

From Bordeaux, Orleans, or the Rhine; 

Their tasks the busy sewers ply. 

And all is mirth and revelry. 

VIL 
The goblin page, omitting still 
No opportunity of ill. 
Strove now, while blood ran hot and high, 
To ix)use debate and jealousy; 
Till Conrade, lord of VVolfenstein, 
By nature fierce, and warm with wine. 
And now in humour highly crossed. 
About some steeds his band had lost. 
High words to words succeeding still, 
Smote, with his gauntlet. Stout Hunthill; 
A hot and hardy Rutherford, 
Whom men call Dickon Drawthesword. 
He took it on the page's saye, 
Hunthill had driven these steeds away. 
Then Howard, Home, and Douglas rose, 
The kindling discord to compose. 
Stern Rutherford right little said. 
But bit his glove, and shook his head : 
A fortnight thence, in Inglewood, 
Stout Conrade, cold, and drenched in blood 

His boSOin ^,OVPrl -^^'.th rry^^^^: p v.^ouikI, 



i 



Bi> THE LAY OF Canto VI. 

Was by a woodman's lymedog found ; 

Unknown the manner of his death. 

Gone was his brand, both sword and sheath; 

But ever from that time 'twas sard. 

That Dickon wore a Cologne blade. 

VIII. 
The dwarf, who feared his master's eye ; 
Might his foul treachery espie, 
Now sought the castle buttery, 
Where many a yeoman, bold and free. 
Revelled as merrily and well, 
As those that state in lordly selle. 
Wat Tinlinn, there, did frankly raise 
The pledge to Arthur Firethebraes ; 
And he, as by his breeding bound. 
To Howard's merrymen sent it round. 
To quit them on the English side. 
Red Roland Forster loudly cried, 
** A deep carouse to yon fair bride !" 
At every pledge, from vat and pail. 
Foamed forth, in floods, the nutbrown ale ; 
While shout the riders every one. 
Such day of mirth ne'er cheered their claUj 
Since old Buccleuch the name did gain, 
When in the cleuch the buck was ta'en. 

IX. 
The wily page, with vengeful thought, 

Remembered him of Finiinn's yew. 
And swore, it should be dearly bought, 

That ever he the arrow drew. 
First, he the yeomen did molest. 
With bitter gibe, And taunting jest ; 
Told how he lied at Solway strife. 
And how Hob Armstrong cheered his wife, 
Then, shunning still his powerful arm, 
At unawares he v/rought his harm ; 
From trencher stole his choicest cheer, 
Dashed from his lips his can of beer, 



THE LAST MINSTREL. %l 

Then, to his knee sly creeping on, 

With bodkin pierced him to the bone : 

The venomed wound, and festering joint : 

Long after rued that bodkin's point. 

The startled yeoman swore and spurned, | 

And board and llaggons overturned ; S 

Riot and clamour wild began; fj 

Back to the hall the urchin ran ; ^ 

Took, in a darkling nook, his post, \ 

And grinned and muttered, *' Lost ! lost ! lost !'•' I 

X. 
By this, the dame, lest further fray . i; 

Should mar the concord of the day, ) 

Had/l^id the Minstrels tune their lay. >j 

And first stept forth old Albert Grxme, ^ 

The Minstrel of that ancient name : | 

Was none who struck the harp so well, j 

Within the Land Debateable ; i 

Well friended too, his hardy kin, 1 

Whoever lost, were sure to win ; 1 

They sought the beeves that made their brotk, 
In Scotland and in England both. 
In homely guise, as nature bade, 
His simple song the Borderer said. 

XI. 

ALBERT GR.T.I\rE. 

It was an English ladye bright. 

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall. 
And she would marry a Scottish knight, 

For love v/ill still be lord of all ! 

Blithly they saw the rising sun. 

When he shone fair on Carlisle wall, 
But they were sad ere day was done. 

Though Love was still tlie lord of all ! 

Her sire gave brooch and jewel fine, 

Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall ; 
Her brother gave but a flask of wine, 

For ire that Love was lord of all ! 
G 



1 



i 



32 THE LAY OF Canto \T. 

For she had lands, both meadow and lea, 

Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall, 
And he swore her death ere he would see 

A Scottish knight the lord of all ! 
XII. 
That wine she had not tasted well, 

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall : 
When dead, in her true lover's arms,, she fell, 

For Love was still the lord of all ! 

He pierced her brother to the heart, 

Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall; 

Sb perish all would true love part, 
That Love may still be lord of all ! 

And then he took the ctoss divine, 

Where the sun shines fair on Carlisle wall. 
And died for her sake in Palestine, 

So love was still the lord of all I 

Now all ye lovers that faithful prove, 

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wall, 
Pray for their souls who died for love. 

For love shall still be lord of all ! 
XIIL 
As ended Albert's simple lay. 

Arose a bard of loftier port ; 
For sonnet, rhyme, and roundelay. 

Renowned in haughty Henry's court ; 
There rung thy harp, unrivalled long, 
Fitztraver of the silver sciig. 

The gentle Surrey loved his lyre. 

Who has not heard of Surrey's fame r 
His was the hero's soul of fire. 

And his the bard's immortal name ; 
And his was love exalted high, 
By all the glow of chivalry. 

XIV. 
They sought, together, climes afar. 

And oft, vhhin some olive grore. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. B3 

When evening came, with twinkling star, 

They sung of Surrey's absent love. 
His step the Italian peasant staid. 

And deemed, that spirks from on high, 
Round where some hermit saint was laid> 

Were breathing heavenly melody ; 
So sweet did harp and voice combine, 
To praise the name of Geraldine. 

XV. 
Fitztraver ! O what tongue may say^ 
The pangs thy faithful bosom knew,*^ 
When Surrey, of the deathless lay. 

Ungrateful Tudor's sentence slew ? 
Regardless of the tyrant's frown. 
His harp called wrath and vengeance down : 
He left, for Naworth's iron towers, 
Windsor's green glades, andcourtlV bowers: 
And, faithful to his patron's name. 
With Howard, still, Fitztraver came ; 
Lord William's foremost favourite he. 
And chief of all his minstrelsy. 
XVL 

5 FITZTRAVER.. 

Twas All souls' eve, and Surrey's heart beat 
high ! 

xw \^f'V^^ midnight bell with anxious start 

Which toid the mystic hour, approaching nieh, 
VVhen wise Cornelius promised, by his art 
To shevv to him the ladye of his heart, 
Aiberc, betwixt them roared the ocean erim - 

Yet so the sage had hight to play his pan, ' 
1 hat he should see her form in life and limb 

And mark if still she ioved, and still The 
thought of him. 

XVIL 
^ark was the vaulted room of gramarye, 

•;! "" ''^''.V^' ' '^^^^""^ ^""'^ the gallant kni^t, 
Save that belore a mirror, huge and lij^h 



84 THE LAY OF Canto VL 

A hallowed taper shed a glimmering light 
On mystic implements of magic might. 

On cross, and character, and tailisman. 
And almagest, and altar, nothing bright : 

For fitful was the lustre, pale and wan. 
As watchlight, by the bed of some departing man. 

XVIII. 

But soon within that mirror, huge and high, 

Was seen a selfemitted light to gleam ; 
And forms upon its breast, the earl 'gan spy. 

Cloudy and indistinct, as feverish dream ; 
Till, slow arranging, and defined, they seem 

To form a lordly and a lofty room, 
Part lighted by a lamp, with silver beam. 

Placed by a couch of Agra's silken loom. 
And part by moonshine pale, and part was 
hid in gloom. 

XIX. 

Fair all the pageant;. but how passing fair 
The slender form which lay on couch of Ind ! 
O'er her white bosom strayed her hazel hsir, 
^ Pale her dear cheek, as if for love she pined; 
All in her nightrobe loose, she lay reclined. 
And, pensive, read from tablet eburnine. 
Some strain, that seemed her inmost soul to 
find: 
That favoured strain was Surrey's raptured 
line. 
That fair and lovely form, the ladye Geraldine. 

XX. 

Slow rolled the clouds upon the lovely form. 
And swept the goodly vision all away : 

So royal envy rolled the murky storm 
O'er my beloved master's glorious day. 

Thou jealous, ruthless tyrant ! Heaven repay 
On thee, and on thy children's latest line. 

The wild caprice of thy despotic sway. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. So 

The gory bridal bed, the plundered shnne. 
The murdered Surrey's blood, the tears of 
Geraldine ! 

XXL 

Both Scots, and southern chiefs, prolong 

Applauses of Fitztraver's song; 

These hated Henry's name as death, 

And those still held the ancient faith. 

Then, from his seat, with lofty air. 

Rose Harold, bard of brave St. Clair; 

Saint Clair, who, feasting high at home, 

Had with that lord to battle come, 

Harold was born v/here restless seas 

Howl round the stormswept Orcades ; 

Where erst Saint Clairs held princely sway. 

O'er isle and islet, strait and bay ; , 

Still nods their palace to its fall. 

Thy pride and sorrow, fair Kirkwall ! 

Thence oft he marked fierce Pentland rave. 

As if grim Odin rode her wave; 

And watched, the whilst, with visage pale, | 

And throbbing heart, the struggling sail ; '■ 

For all of wonderful and wild 

Had rapture for the lonely child. 

xxn. 

And much of wild and wonderful. 
In these rude isles, might fancy cull ; 
For thither came, in times afar. 
Stern Lochlin's sons of roving war. 
The Norsemen, trained to spoil and blood, 
Skilled to prepare the raven's food ; 
Kings of the main, their leaders brave. 
Their barks, the dragons of the wave ; 
And there, in many a stormy vale, 
The Scald had told his wond'rous tale ; 
And many a Runic column high 
Had witnessed grim idolatry. 



m THE LAY OF Canto VL 

And thus had Harold in his youth, 
Leanied many a Saga's rhyme uncouth, 
Of that seasnake, tremendous curled. 
Whose monstrous circle girds the world; 
Of those dread maids, whose hideous yell 
Maddens the battle's bloody swell ; 
Oi chiefs, who, guided through the gloom 
By the pale deathlights of the tomb, 
Ransacked the graves of warriors old. 
Their faulchions wrenched from corpse's hold. 
Waked the deaf tomb with war's alarms. 
And bade the dead arise to arms ! 
With war and wonder all on flame. 
To Roslin 'showers young Harold came. 
Where, by sw^eet glen and greenwood tree, 
He learned a milder minstrelsy ; 
Yet something of the northern spell 
Mixed with the softer numbers well. 
XXIII. 

HAROLD. 

O listen, listen, ladies gay ! 

No haughty feat of arms I tell : 
Soft is the note, and sad the lay. 

That mourns the lovely Rosabella. 

** Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew ! 

And, gentle ladye, deign to stay ! 
Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch, 

Nor tempt the stormy firth to day. 

'• The blackening wave is edged with white ; 

To Inch d and rock the seamews fly ; 
The f.shers have heard the Watersprite, 

Whose screams forbode that v/reck is nigh. 

'* Last night the gifted seer did view 
A wet shroud rolled round ladye gay; 

b hicli, isle. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. «r 

Then stay thee, Fair, in Raven sheuch : 
Why cross the gloomy firth to day ?" 

** 'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir 
To night at Roslin leads the ball, 

But that my ladye mother there 
Sits lonely in her castlehall. 

" 'Tis not because the ring they ride, 
And Liiidesay at the ring rides well, 

But that my sire the wine will chide, 
If 'tis not filled by Rosabelle." 

O'er Roslin all that dreary night 

A wonderous blaze was seen to gleam ; 

Twas broader than the watchfire light. 
And brighter than the bright moonbeam* 

It glared on Roslin 's castled rock, 
It reddened all the copse wood glen ; 

'Twas seem from Dry den's groves of oak. 
And seen from cavcrned Hawthornden. 

Seemed all on fire that chapel proud, 
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie ; 

Each Baron, for a sable shroud. 
Sheathed in his iron panoply. 

Seemed all on fire within, around, 
Both vaulted crypt and altar's pale ; 

Shone every pillar foliage bound. 
And glimmered all the dead men's maiJ. 

Blazed battlement and pinnet high. 

Blazed every rosecarved buttress fair : 

So still they blaze, when fate is nigh 
The lordly line of high Saint Clair. 

There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold 
Lie buried within that proud chapeile ; 

Each one the holy vault doth hold, 
But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle! 



BB THE LAY OF Canto VL 

And each Saint Clair was buried there, 

With candle, with book, and with knell ; 
But the Kelpy c rung, and the Mermaid sung, 

The dirge of lovely Rosabelie. 
XXV. 
So sweet was Harold's piteous lay. 
Scarce marked the guests the darkened hall, 
Though, long before the sinking day, 
A wonderous shade involved them all: 
It was not eddying mist or fog, 
Drained by the sun from fen or bog ; 
Of no eclipse had sages told ; 
And yet, as it came on apace. 
Each one could scarce his neighbour's face, 
Could scarce his ovv^n stretched hand, behold, 
A secret horror checked the feast. 
And chilled the soul of every guest ; 
Kven the high dame stood half aghast, 
She knew some evil on the blast; 
The elfish page fell to the ground. 
And, shuddering, muttered, " Found ! found ? 
found !" 

XXVI. 
Then sudden through the darkened air 

A flash of lightening came ; 
So broad, so bright, so red the glare, 

The castle seemed on flame ; 
Glanced every rafter of the hall. 
Glanced every shield upon the wall ; 
Each trophied beam, each sculptured stone, 
Were instant seen, and instant gone ; 
Full through the guests' bedazzled band 
Resistless flashed the levinbrand. 
And filled the hall with smouldering smoke. 
As on the elvish page it broke. 
It broke with thunder long and loud, 
Dismayed the brave, appalled the proud, 

c Kelpy, the Water Demon. 



THE LAST MINSTREL. «0 

From sea to sea the larum rung ; 
On Berwick wall, and at Carlisle withal. 

To arms the startled warders sprung. 
When ended was the dreadful roar, 
The elvish dwarf was seen no more ! 

XXVIL 

Some heard a voice in Branksome hall, 
Some saw a sight, not seen by all; 
That dreadful voice was heard by some. 
Cry, with loud summons, ** Gylbin, come 1" 
And on the spot where burst the brand, 

Just where the page had flung him down. 
Some saw an arm, and some a hand. 

And some the waving of a gown. 
The guests in silence prayed and shook, i 

And terror dim'd each lolty look : ^l 

But none of all the astonished train 1 ] 

Was so dismayed as Deloraine ; 
His blood did freeze, his brain did burn, 
'Twas feared his mind would ne'er return; I 

For he was speechless, ghastly, wan, 1 

Like him of whom the story ran, \ 

Who spoke the spectre bound in Man. 

At length, by fits, he darkly told, . j 

With broken hint, and shuddering cold— 

That he had seen, right certainly, 
A shape with amice wrapped around. 
With a wrought Spanish baldric bound, 

Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea; 
And knew — but how it mattered not--- 
It was the wizard, Michael Scott. 

xxvni. 

The anxious crowd, with horror pale, 
All trembling, heard the wonderous tale; 

No sound was made, no word was spoke, 

Till noble Angus silence broke ; 
And he a solemn sacred plight 



(yt 



%0 THE LAY 0& Canto V|. 

Did to Saint Br> de of Douglas make, 
That he a pilgrimage would take 
To Melrose Abbey, for the sake 
Of Michael's restless sprite. 

Then each, to ease his troubled breast. 

To some blessed saint his prayers addressed ! 

Some to Saint Modan made their vows. 

Some to Saint Mary of the Lowes, 

Some to the Holy Rood of Lisle, 

Seme to our ladye of the Isle ; 

Each did his patron witness make, 

That he such pilgrimage would take, 

And monks should sing, and bells should toll, 

Ail for the weal of Michael's soul. 

While vows were ta'en, and prayers were 
prayed, 

'Tis said the noble dame, dismayed. 

Renounced, for aye, dark magic's aid. 

XXIX. 

Nought of the bridal v/ill I teli, 

Which after in short space befel ; 

Nor how brave sons and daughters fair 

Blessed Teviot's Flower, and Cranstoun's heir ; 

After such dreadful scene, 'twere vain 

To wake the note of mirth again ; 

More meet it were to mark tae day 

Of penitence and prayer divine> 
When pilgrim chiefs, in sad array, 

Sought Melrose' holy shrine. 

XXX. 

With naked foot, and sackcloth vest, 
And arms enfolded on his breast, 

Did every pilgrim go ; 
The standersby might hear uneath, 
Footstep, or voice, or highdrawn breath, 

Through all the lengthened row ; 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 



#1 



^o lordly look, no martial stride, 
Gone was their glory, sunk their pride, 

Forgotten their renown ; 
Silent and slow, like ghosts, they glide 
To the high altar's hallowed side. 

And there they kneeled them down : 
Above the suppliant chieftains wave 
The banners of departed brave ; 
Beneath the lettered stones were laid 
The ashes of their fathers dead ; 
From many a garnished nich around. 
Stern saints, and tortured martyrs, frowned* 

XXXL 
And slow up the dim aisle afar. 
With sable cowl and scapular, 
And snowwhite stoles, in order due, 
The holy fathers, two and two, 

In long procession came ; 
Taper, and host, and book, they bare, 
And holy banner, flourished fair 

With the Redeem.er's name ; 
Above the prostrate pilgrim band 
The mitred abbot stretched his hand. 

And blessed them as they kneeled ; 
With holy cross he signed them all. 
And prayed they might be sage in hall. 

And fortunate in field. 
Then mass was sung, and prayers were said, 
And solemn requiem for the dead ; 
And bells tolled out their mighty peal, 
For the departed spirit's weal ; 
And ever in the office close 
The hymn of intercession rose ; 
And far the echoing aisles prolong 

The awful burthen of the song. 
Dies irae, dies illa, 
solvet saeclum in favilla ; 



92 THE LAY OF Canto VI . 

While the pealing organ rung ; 
Were it meet with sacred strain 
To close my lay, so light and vain, 

Thus the holy fathers sung. 

HYMN FOR THE DEAD. 

That day of wrath, that dreadful day. 
When heaven and earth shall pass away, 
What power shall be the sinner's stay ? 
How shall he meet that dreadful day ? 

When, shrivelling like a parched scroll, 
The flaming heavens together roll ; 
When louder yet, and yet more dread, 
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead; 

O ! on that day, that wrathful day. 
When man to judgment wakes from clay, 
Be thou the trembling sinner's stay. 
Though heaven and earth shall pass away ! 

Hushed is the harp — the Minstrel gone. 
And did he wander forth alone ? 
Alone, in indigence and age. 
To linger out his pilgrimage ? 
No— close beneath proud Newark's tower, 
Arose the Minstrel's lowly bower; 
A simple hut ; but there was seen 
The iittle garden hedged with green. 
The cheerful hearth and lattice clean. 
There sheltered wanderers, by the blaze, 
Oft heard the tale of other days ; 
For much he loved to ope his door, 
And give the aid he begged before. 
So passed the winter's day ; but still. 
When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill, 
And July's eve, with balmy breath, 
Waved the blue bells on Newark heath ; 
When throstles sung on Harehead shaw, 
And grain waved green on Carterhaueh) 



THE LAST MINSTREL. 

And flourished, broad, Black andro's oak, 

The aged harper's soul awoke ! 

Then would he sing achievements high. 

And circumstance of chivalry, 

Till the rapt traveller would stay^ 

Forgetful of the closing day ; 

And noble youths, the strain to hear, 

Forsook the hunting of the deer ; 

And Yarrow, as he rolled along. 

Bore burden to the Minsrel's song. 



1 
* 



^^y 



NOTES ON CANTO FIRST. 



The feast tvas over in Branksome tower 

Verse first, p. 5. 

In the reign of James I. Sip William Scott, of 
Buccleuch, chief of the clan bearing that name,- 
exchanged with Sir Thomas Inglis of Manor, 
the estate of Murdiestone, in Lanarkshire, for 
one half of the barony of Branksome, or Branx- 
holm, a lying upon the Teviot, about three 
miles above Hawick. He was probably indu- 
ced to this transaction from the vicinity of 
Branksome to the extensive domain which he 
possessed in Ettricke forest and in Teviotdale. 
In the former district he held by occupancy 
the estate of Buccleuch, b and much of the for- 

a Branxholra is the proper name of the barony ; but 
Branksome has been adopted, as suitable to theprunuaci- 
ation, and more proper for poetry. 

b There are no vestiges of any building at Buccleucli 
except the s'te of a ehapel, where, acccrding to a tradi- 
tion current in the time of Scott cf Satcheils, many of 
the ancient bnronsof Buccleuch lie buried. There i*! al- 
so said to have been a miiJ near this 'oliiary spot ; an 
•xtracrdr-jary circumstance, as little or no corn grows 
within several miles of Buccleuch. Satchells says it was 
used to grind corn for the hounds of the chiefiain. 



NOTES. 91 

est land on the river Ettricke. In Teviotdale 
ke held the barony of Eckford, by a grant from 
Robert II. to his ancestor, VValterScott of Kirk- 
urd, for the apprehending of Gilbert Ridder- 
ford, confirmed by Robert III. May 3d, 1424. 
Tradition imputes the exchange betwixt Scott 
and Inglis to a conversation, in which the lat- 
ter, a man it would appear, of a mild and for- 
bearing nature, complained much of the inju- 
ries which he was exposed to from the English 
borderers, who frequently plundered his lands 
of Branksome. Sir William Scott instantly of- 
fered him the estate of Murdiestone, in ex- 
change for that which was subject to such egre- 
gious inconvenience. When the bargain was 
completed, he drily remarked, that the cattle 
in Cumberland were as good as those of Tevi- 
f)tdale, and proceeded to commence a system 
of reprisals upon the English, which was regu- 
larly pursued by his successors. In the next 
reign, James II. granted to Sir Walter Scott 
of Branksome, and to Sir David, his son, the 
remaining half of the barony of Branksome, to 
he held in blanch for the payment of a red rose^ 
The cause as signed for the grant is, their brave 
and faithful exertions in favour of the king a- 
gainst the house of Douglas, with whom James 
had been recently tugging for the throne of 
Scotland. This charter is dated the 2d Feb- 
ruary, 1443 ; and in the same month, part of 
the barony of Langholm, and many lands in 
Lanarkshire, were conferred upon Sir Walter 
and his son by the same monarch. 

After the period of exchange with Sir Tho- 
mas Inglis, Branksome became the principal 
seat of the Buccleuch family. The castle was 
enlarged and strengthened by Sir David Scott, 
the grandson of Sir William, it& first possessori 



96 NOTES ON 

But, in 1570—1, the vengeance of Elizabetk, 
provoked the inroads of Buccleuch, and his at- 
tachment to the cause of Queen Mary, destroy- 
ed the castle, and laid waste the lands of Brank- 
some. In the same year the castle was re- 
paired and enlarged by Sir Walter Scott, its 
brave possessor ; but the work was not com- 
pleted Until after his death, in 1574, when his 
widow finished the building. This appears 
from the following inscriptions. Around a stone, 
bearing the arms of Scott of Buccleuch, ap- 
pears the following legend : ** Sir VV. Scott, 
OF Branxheim Knyt Yoe of Sir Wil- 
liam Scott of Kirkurd Knyt began ye 
WORK UPON YE 24 OF Marche 1574."1 On 
a sim.lar copartment are sculptured the arms 
of Douglas, with this inscription ; " Dame 
Margaret Douglas his spous comple- 

TIT THE FORSAID WORK IN OCTOBER 1576/* 

Over an arched door is inscribed the following 
moral verse : 

In. Varld. is. noght. nature, hes. 

vrought. vat. sal. lest. ay. 
tharfore. serne. God. keip. veil. ye. 

HOB. THY. fame. SAL. NOUGHT, DEKAY. 

Sir Valter Scot of Bra nx holme 
Knight. Margaret Douglas 1571. 

Branksome Castle continued to be the prin- 
cipal seat of the Buccleuch family, while se- 
curity w^as any object in their choice of a man- 
sion. It has been since the residence of the 
commissioners or chamberlains of the family. 
■ From the various alterations which the build- 
ing has undergone, it is not only greatly restric- 
ted in its dimensions, but retains little of the . 
castellated form, if we expect one square to.vcr 
of massy thickness, being the only part of the 
original building which now remains. The 



CANTO FIRST ^T 

%vliole forms a handsome modern residence 
and is now inhabited by my respected friend 
Adam Ogilvy, Esq. of Hartwoodmyres, com- 
missioner of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch 
The extent of the ancient edifice can still be 
traced by some vestiges of its foundation, and 
its strength is obvious from the situation on a 
steep bank surrounded by the Tevolt, and 
flanked by a deep ravine, form.ed by a precip- 
itous brook. It was anciently surrounded by 
wood, as appears from the survey of Roxburgh- 
sliire, made for Font's Atlas, and preserved in 
the x\dvocates' Library. This Vv'ood vv^as cut 
about iifty years ago, but is now replaced by 
I he thrivirg plantations which have bee'n form- 
ed by the noble proprietor, for miles around 
tiie ancient mansion of his forefathers. 

A'z7i€ and t^veiity knights of fame 
Hung their shields in Branksome hall, 

111. p. 5. 

The ancient barons of Buccleuch, both from 
feudal splendour, and from their frontier situ- 
ation, retained in their household, at Brank- 
soiiic, a nuniber of gentlemen of their own 
name, who held lands from their chief for the 
niilitary service of v atcliing and warding his 
his castle. Saichells tells us, in his doggrei 
poetry, 

y^Q> baron vs^as better served in Britain ; 

The barons of Buckle ugh they kept at their 

call, 
Four and twenty gentlemen in their hall. 
All being of his name and kin ; 
liach two had a servant to wait upon them ; 
Before :^upper and dinnei', most renowned. 
The bells rung and the trumpets sowned :" 
H 



5« NOTES ON 

And more than that, I do confess, 

They kept four and twenty pensioners* 

Think not I lie, nor do me blamne, 

For the pensioners I can all name : 

There's men alive elder than I, 

They know if I speak truth or lie ; 

Every pensioner a room a did gain, 

For service done and to be done ; 

This I'll let the reader understand. 

The name both of the men and land. 

Which they possessed, it is of truth. 

Both from the lairds and lords of Buckleugh. 

Accordingly, dismounting from his Pegasus, 
Satchells give us, in prose, the names of twen- 
ty four gentlemen, younger brothers of ancient 
families, who were pensioners to the house o. 
Buccleach, and describes the lands ^vhicheach 
possessed for his Border service. In time o. 
war with England, the garrison was doubtless 
augmented. ^Satchells adds, "These twenty 
three pensioners, all of his own name of bcov, 
and Walter Gladstanes of Whiteiaw, a near 
cous'n ofmy Lord's, as aforesaid were ready 
on all occasions when his honour pleased cause 
to advertise them. It is known to many of the 
country better than it is to me, that the rent 
of these lands, which the lairds and lords of 
Buccleuch did freely bestow upon their friends, 
Sill amount to above twelve or fourteen thou- 
sand merks a year." i^^^'^n'ofl^'^^^^ 
Scot, p. 45. An im.mense sum m those times. 

.l7id idth Jedwoad axe at the saddlebow. 

Vll. p. o 

•> Of a truth," says Froissart, «' the Scottish 
cannot boast great skill with the bow, but 
a B^JH; portion of land. 



CANTO FIRST. 99 

rather bear axes, with which, in time of need 
they give heavy strokes." he Jedwood axe 
was a sort of partizan, used by horsemen, as 
appears from the arms of Jedburg, which 
bear a cavalier mounted, and armed with this 
weapon. It is also called a Jedwood or Jed 
staii. 

They watch against southern force and 
guile. 

Lest Scroope, or Howard, or Percy's 

flowers, ' 

Threaten Branksome's lordly towers 
From l4^arkworth, or JYaworth, or merrii 
Carlisle. VII. p. 6. 

Branksome castle was continually exposed 
to the attacks of the English, both from its 
situation and the restless military disposition 
ot Its inhabitants, who were seldom on eood 
terms with their neighbours. The followine- 
letter from the earl of Northumberland to 
Henry VIII. m 1533. gives an account of a 
successful mroad of the English, in which the 
country was plundered up to the gates of the 

vm f 222°^'''"'^ ''' "*^ *'°"°" ^^- ^"''^- ^^ 

" Pleasith yt your most gracious highnes to 
be aduertised that my comptroller with Ray- 
nald Carnaby desyred licence of me to invade 
the realme of Scotland, for the annoysaunce of 
your highnes enemys, where they thought best 
exployt by theyme might be done, and to haue 

^J.T^^'l T^f ^^^y""^ *1^^ inhabitants of 
Northumberland, suche as woas towards me 
according totheyre assembly, and as by theyre 
disciecions vppone the same they shulde thinke 
roost convenient; and soo they dyd mete vp- 



..-t,-^. >-.^ 



100 NOTES ON 

pon Mondav, before nyght, being the iii day 
of this instant monethe, at Wawhop, vppon 
northe Tyne water, above Tyndaill, wh^re 
they were to the nombre of xv c men, and soo 
invadet Scotland, at the howre of viii of the 
clok at nyght, at a place called Whele Cau- 
say; and' before xi of the clok dyd send forth 
a "forray of Tyndaill and Ryddisdaill, and 
layde all the resydewe in a biishment, and ac- 
tyVely dyd set vppen a towne called Branx- 
honi, where the lord of Buclough d welly the, 
and purp^ssed they m selves with a trayne for 
hviii Ivke to his accustommed maner, in rys- 
yngs, to all frayes ; albeit, that night he was 
iiot at home, and soo they brynt the^ said 
Branxhom, and other townes, as to say Whicli- 
estre, VVhichestrehelm, and Wh^lley, and 
haid ordered theymself soo, that sundry of the 
said lord Buclough servants wlioo dyd issue 
fourthe of his gates, was takyn prisoners. 
They dyd not leve one house, one stak of corne, 
nor one sheyf, v>^ithoutthc gate of the said lord 
Buclough vnbrvnt; and thus scrymaged and 
fraved, supposing the lord of Buclough to be 
within iii or iiii myles to have trayned hvm to 
the bushment ; and soo in the breyking of the 
day dyd the forrey and the bushment mete, 
and reculed homeward, making theyr way 
westv/ard frome theyre invasion to be over 
Lyddersdaill, as intending yf the fraye frome 
theyre furst entry by the Scotts waiches, or 
otherwyse by warnyng shulde hauc bene gy- 
ven to Ged worth and the countrey of Scotland 
theyreabouts of theyre invasion; which Ged- 
v>^orthe is from the Wheles Causay, vi myles, 
that thereby the Scotts shulde have comen 
further vjito theyme, and more owte of ordre; 
and soo yppon sundry good consideracons, be- 



CANTO FIRST. 11 a 

fore they entred Lyddersdaill, as well ac-, 
compting the inhabitants of the same to be to- 
wards your highnes, and to enforce theyme the 
more therby, as alsooto put an occasion of sus- 
pect to the kinge of Scotts and his counsaill, to 
be takyn anenst theyme amongst theymeselves, 
maid proclamaticions commaunding vppon 
payne of dethe, assurance to be for the said in- 
habitants of Lyddersdaill, without any preju- 
dice or hurt to be done by any Inglyssman vn- 
to theyme and soo in good ordre abowte the 
howre of ten of the ciok before none, vppon 
Tewsday, did pas through the said Lydders- 
dail], when dyd come diverse of the said inha- 
bitants there to my servauntes, under the said, 
asurance, effcring theymesefs with any ser- 
vice they couthe make ; and thus, thanks be 
to Godd, your highness subjects abowte the xii 
of the clok at none of the same day, came in- 
to this your highness realme, brynging wt 
theyme above xl Scottsmen prisioners, one of 
them named Scot, of the surname aud kyn of 
of the said Lord of Buclough, and of his howse- 
hold ; they brought alsoo ccc nowte, and above 
Ix horse and mares, keping in saftie frome 
losse or hurte all your said highnes subjects. 
There was alsoo a towne called Newbyggins, 
by diverse fotmen of Tyndaill and Rydders- 
daill takyn vp of the nyght, and spoiled, when 
was slayn ii Scottsmen of the said towne, and 
many Scotts there hurte: your highnes sub- 
jects was xiiii miles within the grounde of Scot- 
land, and is frome my house at Werkworthe, * 
above Ix miles of the most evil passage, Avhere 
great snaws dothe lye ; heretofore the same 
townes now brint haith not at any tyme in the 
mynd of man in any warrs been enterprised 
ante nowe ; your subjects were thereto more 



■^ .^La>^_^i^. ^^.,- ■ -:^>..^«r»i- 



102 NOTES ON 

encouraged for the better advancement of your 
highnes service, the said lord of Buclough bey- 
ing always a mortall enemy to this your graces 
realme, and he dyd say within xiiii dayes be- 
fore, he wolde see who durst lye near hym, wt 
many other cruell words, the knowledge 
•whereof was certaynly haid to my servaunts, 
before theye enterprice maid vppon him; 
most humbly beseeching your majesty that 
your highnes thanks may concur vnto they me, 
whose names be here enclosed, and to have in 
your most gracious memory, the paynful and 
diligent service of my pore servaunte Whar- 
ton, and thus, as I am most bounden, shall dis- 
pose wt them that be vnder me f annoy- 
ance of your highnes enemys.'* 

Bards long shall tell 

How Lord Walter fell, VII. p. 7, 

Sir Walter Scot, of Buccleuch, succeeded to 
his grand father. Sir David, in 149:^. He was 
a brave and powerful baron, and warden to the 
west marches of Scotland. His death was the 
consequence of a feud betwixt the Scots and 
Kerrs, the history of which is necessary to ex- 
plain repe?.ted aJlusions in the romance. 

In the year 1526, in the words of Pitscottie, 
** The earl of Angus, and the rest of the 
Douglasses, ruled all which they liked, and no 
man durst say the contrary : wherefore the 
king (James V. then a minor) was heavily dis- 
pleased, and would fain have been out of their 
hands, if he might by any way. And to that 
effect wrote a quiet and secret letter with his 
own hand, and sent It to the laird of Buccleuch, 
beseeching him that he would come with his 
kin and friends, and all the force that he 
might be, and meet him at Melross, at his 



CANTO FIRSt im 

horae passing, and there to take him out of the 
Douglasses hands, and to put him to liberty, to 
use himself among the lave {reat) of his lords, 
as he thinks expedient. 

*' This letter was quietly directed, and sent 
by one of the king's own secret servants, which 
was received very thankfully by the laird of 
Buccleuch, who was very glad thereof, to be 
put to such charges and familiarity with his 
prince, and did great diligence to perform the 
king's writing, and to bring the matter to pass 
as the king desired ; and to that eifect conven- 
ed all his kin and friends, and all that would 
do for him, to ride with him to Melross, when 
he knew of the king's home coming. And so 
he brouglit with him hi.s six hundred spears oi 
Liddesdale, and Annandale, and countrymen, 
and clans thereabout, and held themselves 
quiet while that the king returned out of Jed- 
burgh, and came to Melross, to remain there 
all that night. 

** But when the lord Hume, Cessfoord, and 
Fernyhirst (the chiefs of the clan of Kerr) took 
their leave of the king, and returned home, 
then appeared the lord of Buccleuch in sight, 
and his company v/ith him, in an arrayed bat- 
tle, intended to have fuHilled the king's peti- 
tion, and therefore came stoutly forward on 
the back side of Halidenhill. By that the earl 
of Angus, with George Douglas, his brother, 
•and sundry other of his friends, seeing this ar- 
my coming, they marvelled what the matter 
meant ; while at the last they knew the laird of 
Buccleuch,with a certain couipany of the thieves 
of Annandale. With him they were less afpear- 
ed, and made them manfully to the field con- 
trary them, and said to the king in this manner, 
** Sir, yon is Buccleuch, and thieves of An- 



104 NOTES ON 

nandale with him, to unbeset your grace from 
the gate {i, e, interrupt your passage.) I vow 
to God they shall either fight or fiee ; and ye 
shall t?.rry here on this know, and my brother 
Ca-eorge with you, with any other company you 
please; and 1 shall pass, and put you thieves' 
off the ground, and rid the gate unto your 
grace, or else die for it." The king tarried 
still, as was devised; and George Douglas with 
him, and sundry other lords, such as the earl 
of Lennox and the Lord Erskine, and some of 
the king's ov/n servants ; but all the lave 
{rest) past v/ith the earl of Angus to the field 
against the laird of Buccleuch, Avho joined and 
countered cruelly both the said parties in the 
field of Darnelinvera either against other, 
with uncertain victory. But at the last, the 
lord Hume, hearing word cf the matter how it 
stood, returned again to the king with all pos- 
sible haste, with him the lairds of Cessfoord 
and Fainyhirst, to the number of fourscore 
spears, and set fi'eshly on the lap and wing of 
the laird of Euccleuch's field, and shortly bare 
them backward to the ground ; which caused 
the laird of Buccleuch, and the rest of his 
friends, to go back and fiee, whom they follow- 
ed and chased ; and especially the lairds of 
Cessfoord and Fairnyhirst followed furiouslie, 
till at the foot path the Hard of Cessfoord was 
slain by the stroke of a spear by an Elliot, 
who was then servant to the laird of Buc- 
cleuch. But when the laird of Cessfoord was 
slain, the chase ceased. The earl of Angus 
returned again with great merriness and vic- 
tory, and thanked God that he saved him from 

h Darnwick, near Melrose. The place of conflict is 
still called Skinner's Field, from a corruption of Skir- 
mish field. 



CANTO FIRST. 105- 

that chance, and passed with the king to Mel- 
ross, where they remamed all that night. On' 
the morn they passed to Edinburgh with the 
Jting, who w^as very sad and dolorous of the 
slaughter of the laird of Cessford, and many 
other gentlemen and yeomen slain by the laird 
©f Buccieuch, containing the number of four 
score and fifteen, which died in defence of the 
king, and at the command of his writing. 

In consequence of this battle, there ensued a 
deadly feud betwixt the names of Scott and 
Kerr, which, in spite of all means used to bring 
about an agreement, raged for many years upon 
the Borders. One of the acts of violence to 
which this quarrel gave rise, was, the murder 
of Sir Walter Scott of Buccieuch, who was 
slain by the Kerrs, in the streets of Edenburg, 
in 1552. This is the event alluded to in verse 
seven; and the poem is supposed to open shortly 
after it had taken place. 

►Yo / vaiyily to each holy thrine^ 

In mutual pilgrimage ^ they drew. 

\U,fu XT. 

Among other expediments resorted to for 
staunching the feud betwixt the Scotts and the 
Kerrs, there was a bond executed, in 1529, be- 
tween the heads of each clan, binding them- 
selves to perform reciprocally the four princi- 
pal pilgrimages of Scotland, for the benefit of 
the soul^f those of the opposite name who had 
fallen in the quarrel. This indenture is print- 
ed in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 
vol. i. But either it never took effect, or else 
the feud was renewed shortly afterward. 

Such actions were not uncommon in feudal 
times; and, as might be expected, they were 
often, as in the present case, void of the effect 



lOi NOTES OK 

desired. When Sir Walter Mauny, the re- 
nowned follower of Edward III. had taken the 
town of Ryoll, in Gascony, he remembered to 
have heard that his father lay there buried, and 
offered a hundred crowns to any who could shew 
his grave. A very old man appeared before 
Sir Walter, and informed him of the manner 
of his father*s death, and the place of his se- 
pulture. It seems the lord of Mauny had, at a 
great tournameut, unhorsed, and wounded to 
the death, a Gascon knight of the house of Mi- 
repoix, whose kinsman was bishop of Cambray. 
For this deed he was held at feud by the rela- 
tions of the knight, until he agreed to undertake 
a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Com- 
postella, for the benefit of the soul of the de- 
ceased. But as he returned through the town 
of Ryoll, after accomplishment of his vow, he 
was beset, and treacherously slain, by the kin- 
dred of the knight whom he had killed. Sir 
Walter, guided by the old man, visited the 
lowly tomb of his father : and, having read the 
inscription, which was in Latin, he caused the 
body to be raised and transported to his native 
city of Valenciennes,vv'here masses were, in the 
days of Froissart, duly said for the soul of the 

unfortunate pilgrim. Cronycle of Froissart, 

Vol. 1.//. 123. 

While Cessford gtjus the ride of Car, 

VIII. A 7, 

The family of Ker, Kerr, or Car, c was very 
powerful on the Border. Fynes Morrison re- 
marks, in his travels, that their influence ex- 
tended from the village of Preston Grange, in 

c The name Is spelled differently by the various fami' 
lies who bear it. Car is selected, not as the most correct, 
but as the most poetical reading 



CANTO FIRST. 107 

liOthian, to the limits of England. Cressford 
Castle, the ancient baronial residence of the fa- 
mily, is situated near the village of Morebattle, 
within two or three miles of the Cheviot Hills. 
It has been a place of great strength and con- 
sequence, but is now ruinous. Tradition af- 
firms, that it was founded by Halbert, or Hab- 
by Kerr, a gigantic warrior, concerning whona 
many stories are current at Roxburghshire. — 
The duke of Roxburghe represents Ker of Cess- 
ford. A distinct and powerful branch of the 
same name own the marquis of Lothian as their 
chief: hence the distinction betwixt Kerrs of 
Cessford and Fairnihurst. 

Before lord Granstoun she should wed, 

X.p. 8. 

The Cranstouns, lord Cranstoun, are an an- 
cient Border family, whose chief seat was at 
Crailing in Teviotdale, They were at this time 
at feud with the clan of Scott ; for it appears 
that the ladye of Buccleuch, in 1557, beset the 
laird of Cranstoun, seeking his life. Never- 
theless, the same Cranstoun, or perhaps his 
gon, was married to a daughter of the same 
jady. 

Of Bethune's line of Picardie, — XI. p. 8. 

The Belhunes were of French origin, and 
derived their name from a smalltown in Ar* 
tois. There were several distinguished families 
of the Bethunes in the neighbouring provmce 
of Picardie; they numbered among their de- 
scendants the celebrated Due de Sully; and 
the name was accounted among the most noble 
in France, while aught ncble remained in that 
country. The family of Bethune, or Beatoun, 
in Fife, produced three learned and dignified 



L^ii^iidisiiUBKttiaffiiaiiiiM 



10^ NOTES ON 

prelates; namely, cardinal Bethune, or Bfea- 
toun, and two successiTe archbishops of Glas- 
sow, all of whom flourished about the date of 
the romance. Of this family was descended 
Dame Janet Beatouii, lady Buccleuch, widow 
of Sir Walter Scott of Branksome. She was a-, 
woman of a masculine spirit, as appeared from 
her riding at the head of a son's clan after her 
husband's murder. She also possessed the he- 
reditary abilities of her family in such a degree, 
that the superstition of the vulgar imputed 
them to supernatural know^ledge. With this 
■was mingled, by faction, the foul accusation of 
her having influenced queen Mary to the mur- 
der of her husband. One of the placards pre- 
served in Buchanan's Detection, accuses her of 
Darnley's murder ** the erle Both well, Mr. 
James Belfour, the persoun of Fliske Mr. Da- 
vid Chalmers, blak Mr. John Spens, wha was 
principal deviser of the murder; and the 
queue assenting thairto, throw the pursuasion 
©f the erle Bothwell, and the witchcraft of the 
lady Buccleuch." 

He learned the art that nGue 7nay name^ 
In Padua, far beyond the sea. 

XL p. 8. 

Pauda was long supposed by the Scottish 
peasants to be the principal school of necro- 
mancy. The earl of Gov/rle, slain at Perth in 
1600, pretended, during his studies in Italy, to 
have acquired some knov/ledge of the cabals, 
by which he said he could charm snakes, and 
work other miracles ; and, in particular, could 
produce children without the intercourse of 
the sexes. See the examination of Wemyss 
of Bogie before the Privy Council, concerning 
Gowrie's conspiracy. 



CANTO FmST. 109 

-. His form no drakening shadonv traced 
Ufion the su?iny wall ! — XI. p. 8. 

The shadow of a necromancer is independent 
of the sun. Glyeas informs us, that Simon Ma- 
gus caused his shadow to go before him, mak- 
ing people believe it was an attendant spirit. — 
Haywood's Hierarchie, p. 475. The vulgar 
conceive, that when a class of students have 
made a certain progress in their mystic stu- 
dies, they are obliged to run through a'sub- 
terraneoushall, where the Devil literally j:atch- 
es the hindmost in the race, unless he crosses 
the hall so speedily, that the archenemy can 
only apprehend his shadow. In the latter case, 
tlie person of the sage never after throws any 
shade ; and those, who have thus lost their 
sha.dow, always prove the best magicians. 

The vierjless for7ns of air, — XII. p. 9. 

The Scottish vulgar, without having any 
very defined notion of their attributes, believe 
in the existence of tin intermediate class of 
spirits residing in the air, or in the waters; 
to whose agency they ascribe floods, storms, 
and all such phenomena as their own philoso- 
phy cannot readily explain. They are suppos- 
ed to interfere in tlie affairs of mortals, some- 
times with a malevolent purpose, andsometimes 
wjth milder views. It is said for example, 
that a gallant baron, having returned from the 
Holy Land to his castle of Drummelzlar, found 
his fair lady nursing a healthy cHild, v/hose 
birth did not, by any means correspond to the 
date of his departure. Such an occurrence, to 
the credit of the dames of the crusaders be it 
spoken, was so rare, as to require a miraculous 
solution. The lady therefore was believed, 
Vhen she averred confidently, that the Spirit 



110 NOTES OK 

of the Tweed had issued from the river while 
she was walking upon its bank, and had com- 
pelled her to submit to his embraces ; and the 
name of Tweedie was bestowed upon the child, 
who afterwards became baron of Drummelzi- 
ar, and chief of a powerful clan. To those 
spirits were also ascribed, in Scotland, the 

— *' Airy tongues, that syllable men's 
names 

On sands, and shores, and desert wilder- 
nesses." 

When the workmen were engaged in erect- 
ing the ancient church of Old Deer, in Aber- 
deenshire, upon a hill called Bissau, they were 
surprised to find that the work was impeded 
by supernatural obstacles. At length the Spirit 
®f the River was heard to say, 

It is not here, it is not here. 
That ye shall build the kirk of Deer ; 
But on the Taptillery, 
Where many a corpse shall lie. 

The scite of the edifice was accordingly trans- 
ferred to Taptillery, an eminence at some dis- 
tance from the place where the building had 
been commenced. Macfarlain's MSS— 1 men- 
tion these popular fables, because the intro- 
duction of the River and Mountain Spirits 
may not, at first sight, seem to accord v/ith 
the general tone of the romance, and the super- 
stitions of the country where the scene is laid. 

J fancied mosstrooper, 6cc. — XIX. p. 11. 

This was the usual appellation of the marau- 
ders upon the Border; a profession diligently 
pursued by the inhabitants on both sides, and 
by none more actively and successfully than 



CANTO FIRST. Ill 

by Buccleuch's clan. Long after the union of 
the crowns, the nnosstroopers, although sunk 
in reputation, and no longer enjoying the pre- 
text of national hostility, continued to pursue 
their calling. 

Fuller inchides, among the wonders of Cum- 
berland, '* The mosstroopers; so strange is the 
condition of their living, if considered in their 
Original, Increase, Height, Decay, and Ruine. 

1. " Original. I conceive them the same 
called Borderers in Mr. Cambden; and char- 
acterised by him to be, a wild and warlike peo- 
ple. They are called Mosstroopers, because 
dwelling in the mosses, and riding in troops to- 
gether. They dwell in the bounds, or meeting, of 
the two kingdoms, but obey the laws of neither. 
They come to churches as' seldom as the twen- 
ty ninth of February comes into the kalendar. 

2." Increase. When England and Scotland 
were united in Great Britain, they that for- 
merly lived by hostile incursions, betook them- 
selves to the robbing of the neighbours. Their 
sons are free of the trade by their fathers' co- 
py. They are like to Job, not in piety and pa- 
tience, but in suddain plenty and poverty; 
sometimes having flocks and herbs in the 
morning, none at night, and perchance many 
again the next day. They may give for their 
HiQttoe, vivitur ex rafito, stealing from their 
honest neighbours what they sometimes require. 
They are a nest of hornets ; strike one, and , 
stir all of them about your ears. Indeed, if 
they promise safely to conduct a traveller, they 
•will perform it with the fidelity of a Turkish 
Janizary ; otherwise, wo be to him that falletli 
into their quarters ! 

3. '* Height. Amounting forty years since to 
some thousands. These coixipeUed the Ticin- 



112 NOTES ON 

age to purchase their security, by paying a 
constant rent to them. When in their greatest 
height, they had two great enennes, the law of 
the land, and the lord William Howard of No- 
worth. He sent many of them to Carlisle, to 
that place, where the officer always doth his 
work by daylight. Yet these Mosstroopers, if 
possibly they could procure the pardon for a 
condemned person of their company, would 
•advance great sums out of their common stock, 
who, in such a case, cast in their lots among 
ihemselves, and ail have one purse. 

4. *' Decay. Caused by the wisdom, valour, 
and diligence, of the Right Honourable Charles 
Lord Howard, earl of Carlisle, w^ho routed 
tliese English tories with his regiment. His 
severity unto them will not only be excused, 
but commended, by the judicious, who consider 
how our great lawyer doth describe such per- 
sons who are solemnly outlawed. Bragton, lib. 
3, tract, 2, cap. 11. * Ex tunc gcrvMt caput 
iufiimun, ita quod sine judiciall inquisitione 
rile per emit ^ et scctirn bu am judicium jior tent ; 
et merito sine lege p.ereunty qui secundum legem 
•vivere rtcusctTU7iL,'' * Thenceforth (after that 
they are outlawed) they wear a woolf's head, 
so that they lav%^fuily may be destroyed, with- 
out any judicial inc|uisition, as who carry their 
oY/n condemnation about them, and deservedly 
die v/ithout lav/, because they refuse to live ac- 
cording to law.' 

5. ** Rulne. Such was the success of th's 
wortb.y lord's severity, that he made a thorough 
reformation amongst diem : and the ringlead- 
ers being destroyed, the rest are reduced to 
legal obediance, and so I ti-ust will continue." 
Fuller's Worthies of England, p. 216. 



CANTO FIRST. 113 

How the brave boy^ in future war, 
Should taine the Unicornis firidey 
Exalt the Crescents and the Star. 

XIX. p. II. 

The arms of the Kerrs of Cessford were. 
Vert on a Cheveron, betwixt three Unicorns* 
heads erased argent^ three moUets sable. 
Crest, an unicorn's head erased profier. The 
The Scotts of Buccleuch bore. Or on a bend 
azure ; a star of six points betwixt two cres- 
cents of the first. 

JVilliam of Deloraine,^ XX. p. 11, 

The lands of Deloraine are adjoinin.^ to 
those of Buccleuch, in Ettricke Forest. They 
were immemorially possessedbythe Buccleucti 
fimily under the strong title of occupancy, al- 
though no charter was obtained from the 
crown until 1545. Like other possessions, the 
lands of Deloraine were occasionally granted 
bv them to vassals, or kinsmen, for Border ser- 
vice. Satchells mentions among the twenty- 
f )ur gentlemen pensioners of the family, *' Wil- 
liam Scott, commonly called Cut at the Blacky 
who had the lands of Nether Deloraine for his 
service." And again, " Tins William of De- 
loraine, commoniy called Cut at the Blacky 
was a brother of the ancient house of Hain- 
ing, which house of Haining is descended from 
the ancient house of Hassandean.'' The lands 
of Deloraine now give an earl's title to the de- 
scendant of Henry the second, surviving son 
of the duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth. 
I have endeavoured to give William of Delor- 
aine the attributes which characterised the 
Borderers of his day ; for which I can only 
plead Froissart's apology, that " it behoveth, 



-Il4 NOTES ON 

in a lynage, some to be folyshe and outrageous, 
to maynteyne and susteyne the peasable." As 
a contrast to my Marchman, I beg leave to 
transcribe, from the same author, the speech 
of Amergot Marcell, a captain of the adven- 
turous companions, a robber, and a pillager of 
the country of Auvergne, v/ho had been bribed 
to sell his strong holds, and to assume a more 
lionourable military life under the banners of 
the earl of Armagnac. But " when he remem- 
bered alle this, he was sorrowfuU; his tresour 
he thought he wolde not mynysshe ; he was 
wonte dayly to serche for newe pyllages wher- 
bye encreased his profyte, and then he sawe 
that alle was closed fro' hym. Than he sayde 
and imagyned, that to pyll and to robbe (all 
thynge considered) was a good lyfe, and so re- 
pented hym of his good doing. On a tyme, he 
said to his old companyons, * Sirs, there is no 
sporte nor glory in this worlde amonge men of 
warre, but to use suche lyfe as we have done 
in tyme past. What a joy was ii to us when 
"we rode forthe at adventure, and sometyme 
found by the way a ryche priouror merchaunt, 
or a route of mulettes of Mountpellyer, of Nar- 
bonne, of Lymens, of Fongans, of Besyres, of 
Tholous, or of Carcassone, laden with cloth of 
Brusselles, or peltre ware comynge fro the 
fay res, or laden with spycery fro Bruges, fro 
Damos, or fro Alysaundrc : whatsoever we 
met, alle was ours, or else raunsomed at our 
pleasures: dayly we gate newe money, and the 
vyllaynes of Auvergne and of Lymosyn dayly 
provyded and brought to our castell whete 
mele, good wynes, beffes, and fatte muttons, 
puUayne and wylde foule : We were ever fur- 
nyshed as tho we had ben kyngs. W hen we 
rode forthe^ alle the country trymbled for 



\\ihtumim^Mtim^ 



CANTO FIRST. 115 

ferre : alle "was ours goynge or comynge. Howe 
toke we Carlast, I and the Bourge of Com- 
payne, and I and Perot of Bernoys tooke Calu- 
set: howe dyde we scale, with lytell ayde, the 
strong castel of Marquell, pertayning to the 
earl Dolphyn ; I kept it nat past fyve days, 
but I receyved for it, on a feyre table, fyve 
thousand frankes, and forgave one thousande 
for love to the earl of Dolphyn's children. By 
my fayth, this was a fayre and a good lyfe ; 
, wherefore I repute myselve sore desceyved, iii 
that I have rendred up the fortress of Aloys ; 
for it wold have ben kept fro alle the worlde* 
and the daye that I gave it up, it was four- 
nyshed with vytaylles to have ben kepte seven 
yere without any revytaylynge. This erl of 
Armynake hath discey ved me : Olyve Barbe^ 
and Perot le Bernoys shewed to me howe I 
shulde repente myselfe ; cert ay ne I sore re- 

pente myself of that I have done. Froi3- 

SART, vol. ii. p. 195. 

By wily turns, by desiierate bounds^ 
Had bafHed Fercy^s best bloodhounds, 

XXI. p. 11. 

The kings and heroes of Scotland, as well 
as the Border-riders, were sometimes obliged 
to study how to evade the pursuit of blood- 
hounds. Barbour informs us, that Robert 
Bruce was repeatedly tracked by sleuth dogs. 
On one occasion, he escaped by wading a bow- 
shot down a brook, and thus baffied the scent. 
The pursuers cam*e up : 

Rycht to the burn thai passyt ware, 
Bot the sleuthhund made stinting thar, 
And waueryt lang tyme ta and fra. 
That he ne certaue gate couth ga ; 



116 NOTES ON 

Till at the last that Jhon of Lom, 
Perseuvit the hund the sleuth had lorne. 

The Bruce, Buke VII. 

A sure way of stopping the dog was to spill 
blood upon the track, which destroyed the dis- 
criminating fineness of his scent. A captive 
was sometimes sacrificed on such occasions. 
Henry the minstrel tells a romantic story of 
Wallace, founded on this circumstance. The 
hero's little band had been joined by an Irish- 
man, named Fawdoun, or Fadzean, a dark, 
savage, and suspicious character. After a 
sharp skirmish at Black Erneside, Wallace was 
forced to retreat with only sixteen followers. 
The English pursued with a Border sleuth- 
tratch, or bloodhound. 

In Gelderland there was that bratchel bred, 
Siker of scent, to follow them that fied ; 
So was she used in Eske and Liddisdail, 
While (z. e. till) she gat blood no fleeing might 
avail. 

In the retreat, Fawdoun tired, or affecting to 
be so, would go no farther, Wallace, having 
in vain argued with him, in hasty anger, 
struck off" his head, and continued his retreat. 
When the English came up, their hound stay^ 
ed upon the dead body. 

The sleuth stopped at Fawdoun, still she stood, 
Nor farther would fra time she fund the blood. 

The story concludes with a fine scene of 
Gothic terror. Wallace toc^k refuge in the 
solitary tower of Gask. Here he was disturb- 
ed at midnight by the blast of a horn ; he sent 
out some of his attendants by two and two, but 
no one returned with tidings. At length, when 



CANTO FIRST. 117 

he was left alone, the sound was heard still 
louder. The champion descended, sword in 
hand; and at the gate of the tower was en- 
countered by the headless spectre of Faw- 
doun, whom he had slain so rashly. Wallace^ 
in great terror, fled up into the tower, tore 
open the boards of a window, lept down fifteen 
feet in height, and continued his flight up the 
river. Looking back to Gask, he discovered 
the tower on fire, and the form of Fawdoun 
upon the battlements, dilated to immense size, 
and holding in his hand a blazing rafter. The 
minstrel concludes, 

Trust lyght wele, that all this be sooth indeed, 
Supposing it be no point of the creed. 

The Wallace, Book V. 

Mr. Ellis has extracted this tale as a sam- 
ple of Henry's poetry. Sfiecimen^ of Knglish 
Poetry, vol. i, p. 351. 

Dimly he vienved the moathilVs mound, 

XXV. p. 13. 

This is a round artificial mount near Ha- 
wick, which, from its name (Mot. Ang. Sax, 
Concilium Convcntus,) was probably ancient- 
ly used as a place for assembling a national 
council of the adjacent tribes. There are ma- 
ny such mounds in Scotland, and they are 
sometimes, but rarely, of a square form. 

Beneath the tower of Hazledean, 

XXV. p. 13. 

The estate of Hazeldean, corruptly Hassen- 
dean, belonged formerly to a family of Scotts 
thus commemorated by Satchells : 

** Hassendean came without a call, 
The an€ient«6t house among them alL'^ 



11» NOTES ON 

On ]\^n to crags the moonbeams glint, 

XXVII. p. 14 

A romantic assemblage of cliffs, which rise 
suddenly above the vale of Teviot, in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the family seat, from which 
lord Minto takes his title. A small platform, 
on a projecting crag, commanding a most beau- 
tiful prospect, is termed BarnhilW* Bed. This 
Barnhills is said to have been a robber or out- 
law. There are remains of a strong tower be- 
neath the rocks, where he is supposed to have 
dwelt, and from which he derived his name. 
On the summit of the crags there are the 
fragments of another ancient tower, in a very 
picturesque situation. Among the houses cast 
down by the earl of Hertforde, in 1545, occur 
the towers of Easter Barnhills, and of Minto- 
crag, with Mihto town and place. Sir Gilbert 
Elliot, father to the present lord Minto, was 
the author of a beautiful pastoral song, of which 
the following is a more correct copy than is 
usually published. The poetical mantle of Sir 
Gilbert Elliot has descended to his family. 

My sheep I neglected, I broke my sheephook, 
And all the gay haunts of my youth I forsook ; 
No more for Amynta fresh garlands I wove ; 
Ambition, I said, would soon cure me of love. 
But what had my youth with ambition to do? 
Why left I Amynta? Why broke I my vow } 

Through regions remote in vain do I rove, 
And bid the wide world secure me from love. 
Ah, fool, to imagine, that aught could subdue 
A love 30 well founded, a passion so true ! 
Ah, give me my sheep, and my sheephook re- 
store, 
And I '11 wander from love and Amynta no more ' 



^^__g__^ 



CANTO FIRST. 119 

Alas I 'tis too late at thy fate to repine ! 
Poor shepherd, Amynta no more can oe thine J 
Thy tears are all fruitless, thy wishes are vain. 
The moments neglected return not again. 
Ah ! what had my youth with ambition to do? 
Why left I Amynta ? Why broke 1 my vow ? 

jincient RiddeVd fair domain. 

XXVIII. p. 14. 

The family of Riddell have been very long 
in possession of the barony called Riddell, or 
Reydale, part of which still bears the latter 
name. Tradition carries their antiquity to a 
point extremely remote ; and is in some de- 
gree sanctioned by the discovery of two stone 
coffins, one containing an earthan pot filled 
with ashes and arms, bearing a legible date» 
A. D. 727 ; the other 4ated 936, and filled with 
the bones of a man of gigantic size. These 
coffins were found in the foundations of what 
was, but has long ceased to be, the chapel of 
Riddell ; and as it was argued, with plausibil- 
ity, that they contained the remains of some 
ancestors of the family, they were deposited in 
the more modern place of sepultre, compara- 
tively so termed, though built in 1110. But the 
following curious and authentic documents war- 
rant most conclusively the epithet of ancient 
Riddel, .st, A charter by David I. to Walter 
Rydale, sheriff of Roxburg, confirlning all the 
estates of Liliesclive, &c. of which his father, 
Gervasius de Rydale, died possessed. 2ndly, 
A bull of Pope Adrian IV. confirming the will 
of Walter de Rid ale, knight, in favour of his 
brother Anschittil de Ridale, dated 8th April, 
1155. 3dly, A bull of Pope Alexander III. con- 
firming the said will of Walter de Ridale, be- 



120 NOTES ON 

^ueathing to his brother Anschittil the lands 
of Liliesclive, VVhettunes, 6cc. and ratifying 
the bargain betwixt Anschittil, and Huctre- 
dus, concerning the church of Liliesclive, in 
consequence of the mediation of Malcolm II. 
and confirmed by a charter from that mon- 
arch. This bull is dated 17th June, 1160. 
4thly, A bull of the same Pope, confirming the 
will oi Sir Anschittil de Ridale, in favour of his 
Son Walter, conveying the said lands of Lilies- 
clive and others, dated 10th March, 1120. It 
is remarkable, that Liliesclive, otherwise Ry- 
dale, or Riddel, and the Whettunes, have de- 
scended, through a long train of ancestors, 
without ever passing into a collatural line, to 
the person of Sir John Buchanan Riddel, bart. 
of Riddell, the lineal descendent and represen- 
tative of Sir Anschittil. These circumstances 
appeared worthy of notice in a Border work. 

^s glanced his eye o'er Halidon, 

XXX. p. 15. 

Halidon was an ancient seat of the Kerrs of 
Cessford, now demolished. About a quarter of 
a mile to the northward lay the field of battle 
betwixt Buccleuch and Angus, which is called 
to this day the Skirmish Field. See the fourth 
note on this Canto. 

Old Metros^ rose, and fair Tweed ran, 

XXXI. p. 15. 

The ancient and beautiful monastery of Mel- 
rose was founded by king David I. Its ruins 
afford the finest specimens of Gothic architec- 
ture, and Gothic sculpture, which Scotland 
can boast. The stone, of which it is built, 
though it has resisted the weather for so many- 
ages^ retains perfect sharpness, so that even 



CANTO FIRST. 121 

the most minute ornaments seem as entire 
as when newly wrought. In some of the clois- 
ters, as is hinted in the next Canto, there are 
representations of flowers, vegetables, &c. 
carved in stone, with accuracy and precision 
so delicate, that we almost distrust our senses, 
when we consider the difficulty of subjecting 
so hard a substance to such intricate and ex- 
quisite modulation. This superb convent was 
dedicated to St. Mary, and the monks of the 
Cistercian order. At the time of the reforma- 
tion, they shared in the general reproach of 
sensuality and irregularity throw n upon the 
Roman churchmen. The old words of Galas- 
shields J a favourite Scottish air, ran thus : 

O the monks of Melrose made gude kale a 

On Fridays when they fasted ; 
They never wanted beef nor ale 

As long as their neighbour's laated. 

a JCajIj broth. 



NOTES ON CANTO SECOND. 



When silver edges the imagery^ 

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die, 

L p. ir. 

The buttresses ranged along the sides of the 
ruins of Melrose, are, according to the Gothic 
style, richly carved and fretted, containing 
nitches for the statues of saints, and labelled 
"with scrolls, bearing appropriate texts of 
scripture. Most of these statues have been 
demolished. 

Saint David'' s ruined fiile, I. p. 11. 

David the first of Scotland purchased the 
reputation of sanctity, by founding, and libe- 
rally endowing, not only the monastery of Mel- 
rose, but those of Kelso, Jedburg, and many 
others, which led to the well known observa- 
tion of his successor, that he was a sore saint 
for the crown, 

Lands and livings^ 7nany a rood, 

Had gifted the shrine for their souls* refiose, 

II. p. 18. 

The Buccleuch family were gre^t benefac- 
tors to the abbey of Melrose. As early as the 
reign of Robert II. Robert Scott, baron of Mur- 
dieston and Rankleburn (now Buccleuch,) gave 



NOTES, &c. 12S 

to the monks the lands of Hinkery, in Ettricke 
forest, firo salute anima sua» — Chartulary of 
Melrose^ 28 May, 1415. 

Prayer know I hardly one ; 

Save to flatter an Ave Mary, 
When I ride on a Border foray, 

VI. p. 19. 

The Borderers were, as may be supposed, 
very ignorant about religious matters. Colville, 
in his Parenesis, or Admonition, states, that 
the reformed divines were so far from under- 
taking distant journies to convert the Heathen, 
** as I wold wis at God that ye wold only go 
to the Hielands and Borders of our own realm, 
to gain our awin countrymen, who for lack of 
preching and ministration of the sacraments, 
must, with tyme, becum either infidells, or 
atheists." But we learn from Lesley, that, 
however deficient in real religion, they regu- 
larly told their beads, and never with more 
zeal than when going on a plundering expedi- 
tion. 

Beneath their feet were the bones of the dead, 

VII. p. 87. 
The cloisters were frequently used as places 

of sepulchre. An instance occurs in Dryburgh 
abbey, where the cloister has an inscription 
bearing. Hie facet f rater Archibaldus, 

So had he seen^ in fair Castile ^ 

The youth in glittering squadrons start : 
Sudden the flying jennet wheely 
And hurl the unexfiected dart. 

VII. p. 20. 
**By my fayth," sayd the duke of Lancaster 
(to a Portuguese squire,) **of all the feates of 



124 NOTES ON 

armcs that the Castellyans and they of your 
country doth use, the castynge of their dartes 
best pleaseth me, and gladly I wolde see it ; 
for as I here say, if they strike one aryght, 
without he be well armed, the dart will perce 
him thrughe." *' By my fayth, sir," sayd the 
squire, ** yen say trouth ; for I have seen 
many a grete stroke given with them, which 
at one tyme cost us derely, and was to us great 
displeasure; for at the said skyrmishe, Sir 
John Laurence of Coygne was striken with a 
dart in such wise, that the head perced all the 
plates of his cote of mayle, and a sacke stop- 
ped with sylke, and passed throughe his body, 
so that he fell down dead.'* Froissart, vol. ii. ch. 
44. This mode of fighting with darts was imi- 
tated in the military game called Juego de las 
Canas, which the Spaniards borrowed from their 
Moorish invaders. A Saracen champion is 
thus described by Froissart ; *' Among the Sa- 
razyns, there was a younge knyghte called 
Agadinger Dolyferne ; he was always wel 
mounted on a redy and lyght horse ; it seemed 
whan the horse ranne, that he dyd flye in the 
ayre. The knyghte seemed to be a good man 
of armes by his dedes, he bare always of usage 
three fethered darts, and rychte well he coulde 
handle them; and, according to their custome, 
he was clene armed with a long white tow ell 
aboute His heed. His apparel was blacke, and 
his own colour browne, and a good horseman. 
The Crysten men saye, they thoughte he dyd 
such dedes of armes for the love of some yonge 
ladye of his countrey. And true it was, that 
he loved entirely the king of Thunes' daugh- 
ter, named the lady Azala ; she was inherj- 
tour to the realme of Thunes, after the dis"- 



CANTO SECOND. 125 

cease of the kynge her father. This Agadin- 
ger was sone to the duke of Dolyferne. I can 
nat telle if they were married together after 
or nat ; but it was shewed me that this knyghte, 
for love of the sayd ladye, during the siege, 
did many feats of armes. The knyghtes of 
Fraunce wolde fayne have taken hym ; but 
they colde never attrape nor inclose him, his 
horse was so swyft, and so ready to his hand, 
that alwaies he scaped." Vol. ii. ch. 71. 

Thy low and lonely urn^ 

O gallant chief of Otterburne, — X. p. 20. 

The famous and desperate battle of Otter- 
burne was fought 15th August, 1388, betwixt 
Henry Percy, called Hotspur, and James earl 
of Douglas. Both these champions were at the 
head of a chosen body of troops, and they 
were rivals in military fame ; so that Froissart 
affirms, ** Of all the bataylles and encounter- 
yngs that I have made mencion of here before 
m all this hystory, great and smalle, this ba- 
tayle that I treat of nowe was one of the sorest 
and best foughten, without cowardes or faynte 
hertes ; for there were neyther knyghte nor 
squyer but that dyde his devoyre, aixd fought 
hande to hande. This batayle was lyke the 
batayle of Becherell, the which was valiaunt- 
lye foughte and endured." The issue of the 
conflict is well known : Percy was made pri- 
soner, and the Scots won tlie day, dearly pur- 
chased by the death of their gallant general, 
the earl of Douglas, who was slain in the action. 
He was buried at Melrose beneath the high 
altar. ** His obsequye was done reverently, 
and on his body layde \ tombe of stone, and 
his banner hangyijg over hynie." Froissart, 
vol. ii. p. 161. 



126 NOTES ON 

..-^^m^Dark knight of Liddesdale X. p. 20. 

William Douglas, called the knight of Lid- 
desdale, flourished during the reign of David 
II. and was so distinguished by his valour, that 
he was called the Flower of Chivalry. Never- 
thelesss he tarnished his renown by the cruel 
murder of Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhoiisie, 
originally his friend and brother in arms. The 
king had conferred upon Ramsay the sheriff- 
dom of Teviotdale, to which Douglas pretend- 
ed some claim. In revenge of this preference, 
the knight of Liddesdale came down upon Ram- 
say, while he was administering justice at 
Hawick, seized, and carried him off to his re^ 
mote and inaccessible castle of Hermitage, 
where he threw his unfortunate prisoner, horse 
and man, into a dungeon, and left him to per- 
ish of hunger. It is said, the miserable captive 
prolonged his existence for several days by 
the corn which fell from a granery above the 
vault in which he was confined.jT So weak 

/ There is something affecting in the manner in which 
the old Prior of Lochlevin turns from describing the 
death of the gallant Ramsay, to the general sorrow 
which it excited : 

To tell you thare of the manere. 
It is hot sorrow for til here ; 
He wes the gretlast menyd man 
That ony cowth have thowcht of than. 
Of his state, or of mare be fare 5 
All menyt him, hath bettyr and war* 
The ryche and pure him mc yde bath, 
For of his dede was mekil skath. 
Some years ago, a person digging for stone, about the 
old casile of Hermitage, broke into a vault, containing a 
quantity of chaflP, some bones, and pieces of iron ; 
amongst others, the curb of an ancient bridle, which the 



CANTO SECOND. 127 

was the royal authority, that David, although 
highly incensed at this attrocious murder, 
found himself obliged to appoint the knight of 
Liddesdale successor to his victim, as sheriff 
of Teviotdale. But he was soon after slain, 
while hunting in Ettricke Forest, by his own 
godson and chieftain, William earl of Douglas, 
in revenge, according to some authors, of Ram- 
say's murder; although a popular tradition, 
preserved in a ballad quoted by Godseroft, and 
some parts of which are still preserved, as- 
cribes the resentment of the earl to jealousy. 
The place where the knight of Liddesdale was 
killed, is called, from his name, William's 
Cross, upon the ridge of a hill called William 
Hope, betwixt Tweed and Yarrow. His body, 
according to Godseroft, was carried to Lindean 
Church the first night after his death, and 
thence to Melrose, where he was interred with 
great pomp, and where his tomb is still shewn. 

The moon on the east oriel shone — XI. p. 20. 

It is impossible to conceive a more beautiful 
specimen of the lightness and elegance of Go- 
thic architecture, when in its purity, than the 
eastern window of Melrose abbey. Sir James 
Hall of Dunglas, bart. has, with great ingenui- 
ty and plausibility, traced the Gothic order 
through its various forms, and seemingly ec- 
centric ornaments, to an architectural imita- 
tion of wickerwork ; of which, as we learn 
from some of the legends, the earliest Christian 
churches were constructed. In such an edifice 

author has since given to the earl of Dalhousie, unde^ 
the imppession, that it possibly may be a relique of his 
brave ancestor. The worthy clergymen of the parish 
lias mentioned this discovery, in his statistical account of 
the parish of Castleton. 



^: 



125 NOTES ON 

the origin of the clustered pillars is traced to 
a set of round posts, begirt with slender rods 
of willow, whose loose summits were brought 
to meet from all quarters, and bound together 
artiiicially, so as to produce the framework of 
the roof; and the tracery of our Gothic win- 
dows is displayed in the meeting and interlac- 
ing of rods and hoops, affording an inexhausti- 
ble variety of beavitiful forms of open work. — 
This ingenious system is alluded to in the ro- 
mance. Sir James Hall's Essay on Gothic ar- 
chitecture is published in the Edinburgh Phi- 
losophical Transactions. 

They gat them down on a marble stone^ 
A Scottish 7nonarch slept below, 

XII. p. 21. 

A large marble stone, in the chancel of Mel- 
rose, is pointed out as the monument of Alex- 
ander II. one of the greatest of our early kings ; 
other say, it is the resting place of Waldeve, 
one of the early abbots, who died in the odour 
of sanctity. 

The wondrous Michael Scott, XIII. p. 21. 

Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie flourished 
during the thirteenth century ; and was one of 
the ambassadors sent to bring the Maid of 
Norway to Scotland upon the death of Alexan- 
der III. By a poetical anachronism, he is here 
placed in a later era. He was a man of much 
learning, chiefly acquired in foreign countries. 
He wrote a commentary upon Aristotle, print- 
ed at Venice in 1496 ; and several treaties up- 
on natural philosophy, from which he appears 
to have been addicted to the abstruse studies 
of judicial astrology, alchymy,physiogomy, and 
chiromancy. Hence he passed among his con- 



CANTO SECOND. 125 

temporaries for a skilful m?gician. Dempster 
informs us, that he remembers to have heard 
in his youth, that the magic books of Michael 
Scott were still in existence, but could not be 
opened without danger, onaccount of the fiends 
who were thereby invoked. Demfiseri Historia 
Ecciesiastica, 1627, lib. xii. p. ^95, Lesley 
characterises Michael Scott as ^'' Singular i 
fihiloHofihicej astronomice qc medicince taude 
prestans ; dicebatur penitissimos magi a reces- 
sua indagasse,*' A. person, thus spoken of by 
biographers and historians, loses little of his 
mystical fame in vulgar tradition. According- 
ly, the memory of Sir Michael Scott survives 
in many a legend; and in the south of Scotland, 
any work of great labour and antiquity is as- 
cribed, either to the agency of Auld Michael, 
of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil. Tra- 
dition varies concerning the place of his burial, 
some contend for Holme Coltrame, in Cum- 
berland ; others for Melrose abbey. But all 
agree, that his books of Magic were interred 
in his grave, or preserved in the convent where 
he died. Satchells, wishing to give some au- 
thority for his account of the origin of the name 
of Scott, pretends, that, in 1629, he chanced to 
be at Burgh, under Bowness, in Cumberland, 
where a person, named liancelDt Scott, shewed 
him an extract from Michael Scott's works, 
containing that story^ 

** He ;:aicl the book which he gave me, 

Was of Sir Michael Scott's historiej 

Which historic i\'ai^ never yet read throiigli. 

Nor never '.vill, fur no man dare it do. 

Youhj: scholars have pick'd out something 

From the contents, that dare not read withiru 

He carried me aloncr Uilo the castle then, 

And shew'd his writing book haiijiring; on an iron pi 

His writing pen did seem to me to bt 

K 



330 NOTES ON 

Of harden'd metaJ, like steel, or accnmre ^ 

The volume of it did seem so large tome. 

As the book of martj^s and Turks historie. 

Then in the chivrch he let me see 

A stone where Mr. Michael Scott did lie^ 

1 asked at him how that could appear, 

Mr. Michael had been dead above five hundred y<?ar ? 

He she wen me none durst bury under that stone^ 

More than he had been dead a few years agone ; 

For Mr. Michael's name does terryfy each one. 

History cf the Right hon. Name of Scott, 
Salamanca'* 8 cave. XIII. p. 21. 

Spain from the reliques, doubtless, of Ara« 
^ian learning and superstition, was accounted 
^ favourite residence of magicians. Pope Syl~ 
vester^ who actually imported from Spain the 
use of the Arabian numerals, was supposed 
to have learned there the magic for which he 
"svas stigmatised by the ignorance of his age- 
William of Malmesbury, lib. ii. cap. 10. lliere 
were public schools,^ where magic, or rather 
the sciences supposed to ijivolve its mysteries, 
■were regularly taught, at Toledo, Seville, and 
Salamanca. In the latter city, ihey v/ere he! I 
in a deep cavern ; the mouth of which v/as 
•walled up by queen Isabella, wife of king Fer- 
dinand. D'Autum on learned Incredulity, p. 
45. The celebrated magicians Maugis, cous- 
in to Rinaldo of Montalban, called by Ariosto, 
Malagigi, studied the black art at Toledo, as 
we learn from LTIistoire de Maugis D'Agre- 
•mcnt. He even held a professor's chair in the 
necromantic university ; for so I interpret the 
passage, *' ^i/V?2 tous let sefit ars cV enchant- 
Tnent, des charrnes et conjurations il n'y avals 
7naiUeur maistre que lui ; et en tcl renom qu^oJi 
le lassoit en chais^ et rappelloit en mastre 
Maut;i^'^ This Salamancan Domdamel is 



CANTO SECOND. IIS 

said to have been founded by Hercules. If the 
classic reader inquires where Hercules himself 
learned magic, he may consult, '*Les faicts 
et processes du noble et vaillant Hercules,'' 
"where he will learn, that the fable of his aid- 
ing Atlas to support the heavens, arose from 
the said Atlas having taught Hercules, the no- 
ble knight errant, the seven liberal sciences, 
and, in particular, that of judicial astrology. — 
Such, according to the idea of the middle ages 
were the studies, " maxim.us quae docuit At- 
las," In a roma^ntic history oi Roderic, the- 
last Gothic king of Spain, he is said to have 
entered one of those enchanted caverns. It 
was situated beneath an ancient tower near 
Toledo; and, when the iron gates, which se- 
cured the entrance, were unfolded, there rush- 
ed forth so dreadful a whirlwind, that hither* 
to no one had dared to penetrate into its reces- 
ses. But Roderic, threatened with an invasion 
of the Moors, resolved to enter the cavern, 
where he expected to find some prophetic inti- 
mation of the event of the war. Accordingly,, 
his train being furnished with torches so arti- 
ficially composed, that the tempest could not 
extinguish them, the king with great difficulty 
penetrated into a square hall, inscribed all 
over with Arabian characters. In the midst 
stood a colossal statue of brass, representing a 
Saracen wielding a Moorish mace, with which 
it discharged furious blows on all sides, and 
seemed thus to excite the tempest which rag- 
ed around. Being conjured by Roderic, it 
ceased from strilcing until he read, inscribed on 
its right hand, '' VX'retched monarch, for thy 
evil hast thou come hither ;" on the left hand, 
** Thou shalt be dispossessed by a strange peo- 
ple ;" on one shoulder, ** I invoke the sons of 



132 NOTES ON 

Hagar ;" on the other, ** I do mine office."--* 
When the king had decyphered these ominous 
inscriptions, the statue returned to its exercise, 
the tempest commenced anew, and Roderic 
retired, to mourn over the predicted evils 
which approached his throne. He caused the 
gates oi the cavern to be locked and barricad- 
ed ; but, in the course of the night, the tower 
fell with a tremendous noise, and under its 
Tuins concealed forever the entrance to the 
mystic cavern. The conquest of Spain by the 
Saracens, and the death of the unfortunate 
Don Roderic, fulfilled the prophecy of the bra- 
zen statute. Histora verdadera del Rey Don 
Rodrigo fior el sabio Alcayde Abulcaciniy tra- 
duzeda de la lengua Arabiga por Miquel dc 
LunUy 1654, cap. vi. 

The bells would ring i7i Kotre Dame, 

XIII. p. 21. 
" Tantamne rem tarn negligenter .^" Says 
Tyrwhit, of his predescessor Speight ; who, in 
ills commentary on Chaucer had omitted as 
trivial and fabulous, the story of Wade and 
his boat Guingelot, to the great prejudice of 
posterity ; the memory of the hero, and the 
boat, being now entirely lost. That future an- 
tiquarians may lay no such omission to my 
charge, I have noted one or two of the most 
current traditions concerning Michael Scott. 
He was chosen, it is said, to go upon an em- 
bassy, to obtain from the king of France satis- 
faction for certain piracies committed by his 
subjects upon those of Scotland. Instead of 
preparing a new equipage and splendid reti- 
nue, the ambassador retreated to his study, 
opened his book, and evoked a fiend in the 
shape of a huge black horse, mounted upon 



eANTO SECOND. 133 

his back, and forced him to fly through the air 
towards France. As they crossed the sea, the 
devil insidiously asked his rider. What it was 
that the old women of Scotland muttered at 
bedtime? A less experienced wizzard might 
have answered, that it was the Pater Noster, 
which would have licensed the devil to preci- 
pitated him from his back. But Michael stern- 
ly replied, " What is that to thee ? Mount Di- 
abolus, and fly !" When he arrived at Paris, 
he tied his horse to the gate of the palace, en- 
tered, and boldly delivered his message. An 
lirmbassador, with so little of the pomp and cir- 
cumstances of diplomacy, was not received 
with much respect; and the kmg was about to 
return a contemptuous refusal to his demand, 
when Michael besought him to suspend his re- 
solution till he had seen his horse stamp three 
times. The first stamp shook every steeple in 
Paris, and caused all the bells to ring ; the se- 
cond threw down three of the towers of the 
palace ; and the infernal steed had lifted his 
hoof to give the third stamp, when the king 
rather chose to dismiss Michael with the most 
ample concessions, than to stand to the proba- 
ble consequences. Upon another occasion, 
the magician, having studied so long in the 
mountains that he became faint for want of food, 
sent his servant to procure some from the near- 
est farmhouse. The attendant received a 
churlish denial from the farmer. Michael com- 
manded him to return to this rustic Nabal, and 
lay before him his cap, or bonnet, repeating 
these words, 

Maister Michael Scott's man 

Sought meat, and gat nane. 
When this was done and said, the enchant- 
.o4 bonn«t became suddenly inflatec), and ie- 



13i * NOTES ON 

gan to run round the house with great speed, 
pursued by the farmer, his wife, his servants, 
and the reapers, who were on the neighbour- 
ing /lar'st rig'g. No one had the power to re- 
sist the facination, or refrain from joining in 
pursuit of the bonnet, until they were totally 
exhausted with their ludicrous exercise. A si- 
milar charm occurs in Huon de Bourdeaux^ 
and in his ingenious Oi^iental tale, called the 
Qalitih Vathek, 

Michael, like his predecessor Merlin, fell at 
last a victim to female art. His wife, or con- 
cubine, elicited out of him the secret, that his 
art could ward off any danger except the poi- 
sonous qualities of broth, made of the flesh of 
of a breme soWc Such a mess she according- 
ly administei^d to the wizard, who died in 
consequence of eating it. 

The Tjords that cleft Eildon hills in three ^ 
And bridled the Tweed ivith a curb of stone-, 

XXX. p. 21. 

Michael Scott was, once upon a time, much 
embarrassed by a spirit, for whom he was un- 
der the necessity of finding constant employ- 
ment. He commanded him to build a caiild^ 
or damhead, across the Tweed at Kelso: it 
was accomplished in one night, and still does 
honour to the infernal architect. Michael 
next ordered, that Eildon hill, which was then 
a uniform cone, should be divided iiito three. 
Another night was sufficient to part its sum- 
mit into three picturesque peaks which it now 
bears. At length the enchanter conquered this 
indefatigable demon, by employing him in the 
hopeless and endless task of making rq^es out 
of Sera s«iLnd. 



CANTO SECOND. 135 

That lamfi shall burn unqucnchably. 

VII. p. 42. 

Baptisa Porta, and other authors who treat 
upon natural magic, talk much of eternal 
lamps, pretended to have been found burning 
in ancient sepulchres. Fortunius Licetus in- 
vestigates the subject in a treatise, De Lu- 
cernis anV qiiormn reconditis^ published at 
Venice, 1621. One of these perpetual lamps 
is said to have been discovered in the tomb of 
Tulliola, the daughter of Cicero. The wick 
was supposed to be composed of abestos. Kir- 
cher enumerates three different receipts for 
constructing such lamps ; and wisely concludes 
that the thmg nevertheless is impossible. 
Mundus Subterraneus, p. 72. Delrio imputes 
the fabrication of such lights to magical skill. 
Disquisitions Magics, p. 5S. In a very rare 
romance which *' treateth of the lyfe of Virgil- 
JUS, and of his deth, and many marvayles that 
he dyd in his lyfetime, by whyche crafte and 
nygramancye, through the helpe of the devyls 
of hell," mention is made of a very extraordi- 
nary process, in which one of these mystical 
lamps v/as employed. It seems, that Virgil, as 
he advanced in years, became desirous of re- 
novating his youth by his magical art. For 
this purpose, he construced a solitary tower, 
having only one narrow portal, in which he 
placed twenty four copper figures, armed with 
iron flails, twelve on each side of the porch. 
These enchanted statues struck with their 
flails incessantly, and rendered all entrance 
impossible, unless when Virgil touched the 
s])ring, which stopped their motion. To this 
tower he repaired privately, attended only by 
one trusty servant, to whom he communicated 
the secret of the entrance, and hither they 



J3S KOTES ON 

conveyed all the magician's treasure. ** Theb 
sayde Virgilius, my dere beloved frende, and 
he that I above alle men truste and knowe 
mooste of my secret ;" and then he led the 
man into the cellar, where he had made a 
fayer lamfie at all seasons burnynge. And then 
sayed Virgilius to the man, ** Se you the bar- 
ell that standeth here ?'' and he sayd, yea : 
** therem must thou put me : fyrste ye must slee 
me, ana hewe me smalleto peces, and cut my 
heed in iiii peces, and salte the heed under in 
the bottum, and then the peces there after, 
and my herte in the myddel, and then set the 
barell under the lampe, that nyghte and daye 
the fat therein may droppe and leake ; and ye 
shall, ix dayes longe, ones in the daye, fyll the 
lamp and fayle nat. And when this is alle 
done, then shall I be renued, and made yonge 
agen/' At this extraordinary proposal, the 
confidant was sore abashed, and made some 
scruple of obeying his master's commands. 
At length, however, he complied, and Virgil 
was. slain, pickled, and barrelled up, in all re- 
spects according to his own directon. The ser- 
vant then left the tower, taking care to put 
the copper threshers in motion at his depar- 
ture. He continued daily to visit the tower 
with the same precaution. Meanwhile, the 
emperor, with whom Virgil was a great fa- 
vourite, missed him from the court, and de- 
manded of his servant where he was. The do- 
mestic pretended ignorance, till the emperor 
threatened him with death, when at length 
he conveyed him to the enchanted tower. 
The same threat extorted a discovery of the 
mode of stopping the statues from wielding 
their flails. '* And then the emperor entered 
iRto th« castle with all his folke, and soughte 



CANTO SECOND. 137 

all aboute in every comer after Virgilius; and 
at last they sou ghte a longe, that they came 
into the seller, where they sawe the lampc 
hanging over the barell, where Virgilius lay in- 
deed. Then asked the emperor the man, who 
had made hym so herdey to put his mayster 
Virgilius to dethe ? and the man answered no 
worde to the emperor. And then the emper- 
er, with great anger, drew oute his sworde, 
and slewe he there Virgilius' man. And when 
all this was done, than saw the emperor, and all 
his folke, a naked chlyde iii tymes rennynge 
about the barell, sayenge these wordes, ' curs- 
ed be the tyme that ever ye came here !' 
And with those wordes vanysshed the chylde 
awaye, and was never sene ageyn ; and thus 
abyd Virgilius in the barell deed." Virgilius, 
bl. let. printed at Antwerpe by John Does- 
boncke. This curious volume is in the valua- 
ble library of Mr. Douce ; and is supposed to 
be a translation from the French, printed in 
Flanders for the English market. See Goujet 
Biblioth. Franc ix. 225. Catalouge de la Bib- 
liothque Nationale, torn. ii. p. 5. De Bure, No, 

He thought^ as he took it^ the dead man 
frowned. XXI. p. 24. 

William of Deloraine might be strengthed 
in this belief by the well known story of the 
Cid Rur Diaz. When the body of that fa- 
mous Christian champion was sitting in state, 
a certain malicious Jew stole into the chamber 
to pull him by the beard ; but had no sooner 
touched the formidable whiskers, than the 
corpse started up, and half unsheathed his 
sword. The Israelite fled; and so permanent 
was the effect of his terror, that he becajne 



138 NOTES ON 

Christian^ Heywood^s Hiarchie, p. 480, quot- 
ed from Sebastian Cobaruvias Crozce. 
The barona* dwarf his courser held, 

XXXI. p. 28. 

The idea of lord Cratistoun's goblin page is 
taken from a being called Gilpin Horner, who 
appeared, and made some stay, at a farm- 
house among the Border mountains. A gen- 
tleman of that country has noted down the fol- 
lowing particulars concerning his appearance. 

" The only certain, at least most probable, 
account, that ever I heard of Gilpin Horner, 
was from an old man of the name of Ander- 
son, who was born, and lived all his life atTod- 
shawhill, in Eskdalemuir, the place where 
Gilpin appeared and staid for some time. He 
said there were two men, late in the evening, 
when it was growing dark, employed in fas- 
tening the horses upon the uttermost part of 
their ground (that is, tying their forefeet to- 
gether, to hinder them from travelling far in 
the night), when they heard a voice, at some 
distance, crying, tint' I tint ! tint I" a One of 
the men named Moffat, called out, * What 
d'eil has tint you ? Come here.' Immediately 
a creature of something like a human form 
appeared. It was surprisingly little, distorted 
in features, and mishapen in limbs. As soon 
as the two men could see it plainly, they run 
home in a great fright, imagining they had 
met with some goblin. By the way Moffat fell, 
and it run over him, and was home at the 
house as soon as any of them, and staid there 
a long time : but I c-mnot say how long. It was 
real flesh and blood, and ate and drank, was 
fond of cream, and when it could get at it, would 

a Tint signifies lost. 



CANTO SECOND. 159 

destroy a great deal. It seemed a mischievous 
creature ; and any of the children whom it 
could master, it would beat and scratch with- 
out mercy. It was once abusing a child be- 
longing to the said Moffat, who had been 
so frightened by its first appearance ; and 
he, in a passion, struck it so violent a blow 
upon the side of the head, that it tumbled up- 
on the ground: but it was not stunned ; for it 
set up its head and exclaimed, ' Ah hah, Will 
o' Moffat, you strike sair !' (viz. so7'e.) After 
it had staid there long, one evening, when the 
women were milking the cows in the loan, it 
was playing among the children near by them, 
when suddenly they heard a loud shrill voice 
cry, three times, ' Gilpin Horner !' it started, 
and said, * That is me, I must away ;' and in- 
stantly disappeared and was never heard of 
more. Old Anderson did not remember it, 
but said, he had often heard his father, and 
other old men of that place, who were there at 
the time, speak about it ; and in my younger 
years, I have often heard it mentioned, and 
never met with any who had the remotest 
doubt as to the truth of the story ; although, I 
must own, I cannot help thinking there must 
be some misrepresentation in it." To this ac- 
count I have to add the following particulars, 
from the most respectable authority. Besides 
constantly repeating the woids ti7Jt 1 tint I 
Gilpin Horner was often heard to call upon 
Peter Bertram, or Be-te-ram, as he pronounc- 
ed the word ; and when the shrill voice called 
Gilpin Horner, he immediately acknowledged 
it was the summons of the said Peter Bertram, 
who seems, therefore, to have been the devil, 
who had tint, or lost, the little imp. 



Ut NOTES OK 

JBut the iedye of Branksome gathered a bami 
I?/ the best that would ride at her commarid. 

XXXIII. p. 14. 
•* Upon 25th June, 1557, Dame Janet Beat- 
•une, ladye Buccleuch, and a great number of 
the name of Scott, delaitit (accused) for com- 
ing to the kirk of St. Mary of the Lowes, to 
the number of two hundred persons, bodin in 
feir of weire (arranged in armour,) and break- 
ing open the doors of the said kirk, in order to 
apprehend the laird of Cranstoune for his de- 
struction." On the 20th of July, a warrant 
from the queen is presented, discharging the 
justice to proceed against the ladye Buccleuch 
-while new calling. Abridgment of Books of 
^^djournal in Advocates^ Library, The fol- 
lowing proceedings upon this case appear on 
the record of the court of Justiciary : On'^the 
25th of June, 1557, Robert Scott, in Bowhill 
parish, priest of the kirk of St. Mary's, accus- 
ed of the convocation of the queen's lieges, to 
the number of 200 persons, in warlike array, 
with jacks, helmets, and other weapons, and 
inarching to the chapel of St. Mary of the 
Lowes, for the slaughter of Sir Peter Crans- 
toun, out of ancient fued and malice prepence, 
and of breaking the doors of the said kirk, is 
repiedged by the archbishop of Glasgow. The 
bail given by Robert Scott of Allanhaugh, Ad- 
am Scott of Burnefute, Robert Scott in How- 
furde, Walter Scott in Todshawhaugh, Wai- 
ter Scott younger of Synton, Thomas Scott of 
Haynyng, Robert Scott, VVilliam Scott, and 
Jarnes Scott, brothers of the said Walter 
Scott, Walter Scott in the Woll, and Walter 
Scott, son of William Scott of Harden, and% 
James Wymes in Eckford, all accused of the 
^ame crime, is. declared to be forfeited. O^ 



CANTO SECOND. 141 

the same day, Walter Scott of Synton, and 
Walter Chisholme of Chisholme, and William 
Scott of Harden, became bound, jointly and 
severally, that Sir Peter Cranstoun, and his 
kindred and servants, should receive no injury 
from them in future. At the same time, Pat- 
rick Murray of Fallohill, Alexander Stuart, 
uncle to the laird of Trackwhare, John Mur- 
ray of Newhall, John Fairlye, residing in Sel- 
kirk, George Tait younger of Pirn, John Pen- 
ny pcuke of Pennycuke, James Ramsay of Cok- 
pen, the laird of Fessyde, and the laird of Hen- 
derstoune, were all severally fined for not at- 
tending as jurors. Upon the 20th of July fol- 
lowing, Scott of Synton, Chisholme, Scott of 
Harden, Scott of Howpaslie, Scott of Burnfute, 
with many others, are ordered to appear at 
next calling, under the pains of treason. But 
no farther procedure seems to have taken 
place. It is said, that, upon this rising, the 
kirk of St. Mary was burned by the Scotts. 



NOTES ON CANTO THIRD. 



When, dancing in the sunny beaniy 

He marked the crane on the baron^s crest, 

IV. p. 23. - 

The crest of the Cranstouns, in allusion tcr 

their name, is crane dormant, holding a stone 

in his foot, with an empliatic Border motto. 

*Thou shalt want ere I v/ant.' 

Much he marvelled a knight of firide^ 
Like a bookbosomed firiest should ride, 

VIII. p. 33. 
** At Unthank, two miles N. E. from the 
church (of Ewes,) there are the ruins of a, 
chapel for divine service, in time of popeiT". 
There is a tradition, that friars were wont to 
€ome over from Melrose, or Jedburg, to bap- 
tise and marry in this parish ; and, from being 
in use to carry the massbook in their besoms, 
they were called by the inhabitants Book-a-bos- 
oms. There is a man yet alive, who knew old 
men who had been baptised by these Book-a- 
boscms, and who says one of them, called 
Hair, used this parish for a long time." Ac- 
count oj the Parish of Eives, a/iud Macfar- 
lane's MSS. 

It hadnmch of glamour might—W. 9, p. 34. 
Gla?nour, in the legends of Scottish supersti- 
tion, means the magiu power of imposing on 
the e\ esighr of spectators, so that the appear- 
ance of an object shall be totally different from 



CANTO THIRD 14^ 

the reality. To such a charm the ballad of 
Johnie Fa' imputes the facination of that lovely 
countess, who eloped witk that gypsy leader: 
Sae soon as they saw her weel fa'rd face 

They cast the glamour ower her. 
It was formerly used even in war. In 1381, 
when the duke of Anjou lay before a strong 
eastle, upon the coast of Naples, a necromancer 
offered to '* make the ayre so thycke that they 
within shall thynke that there is a great bridge 
on the see [by which the castle was surround- 
ed], for ten men to go afront ; and when they 
within the castell se this bridge, they will be sa 
afrayde, that they shall yelde them to your 
mercy." The duke demanded, ** Fay re May- 
ster, on this bridge that ye speke of, may our 
people Tissuredly go thereon to the castell to 
assayle it?" ** JSyr," quod the enehantour, *' I 
dare not assure you that: for if any that pas- 
seth on the bridge, make the signe of the cros- 
se on hym, all shall go to noughte, and they 
that be on the bridge shall fall into the see." 
Then the duke began to laugh; and a certaya 
of yong knyghtes, that were there present, said». 
** Syr, for godsake, let the mayster assay his 
Gunning; we shall leve making of any signe of 
the crosse on us for that tyme." The earl of 
Savoy, shortly after, entered the tent, and re- 
cognized in the enchanter, the same person 
who had put the castle into the power of Syr 
Charles de la Payx, who then held it, by per- 
suading the garrison of the queen of Naples, 
through magical deception, that the sea was 
eoming over the walls. The sage avowed 
himself to be the same person, and added that 
he was the man in the world most dreaded by 
Sir Charles de la Payx. " By my fayth, quod 
the erl of Savoy, ye say \sell; and 1 will that 



lU NOTES ON 

Syr Charles de la Payx shall know that he 
hath grete wronge to fear you. But I shall as- 
sure hym of you ; for ye shall never do en- 
chauntment to deceyve him, nor yet none other. 
I wolde nat that in tyme to come we shoulde be 
reproached that in so hygh an enterprise as we 
be in, wherein there be so many noble knyghtes 
and squyers assembled, that we shulde do any 
thyng be enchauntment, nor that we shulde 
wyn our enemyes by suche crafte." Then he 
called to hym a ser\ aunt, and sayd, go and 
get a hangman, and let hym stryke off this 
maysters heed without delay: and as soon as 
tlie erle had commanded it, incontynent it was 
done, for his heed was stryken off before the 
erl's tent." Froissart, vol. i. ch. 391, 392. 

The art of glamour, or ocular fascination, 
was anciently a principal part of the skill of 
the jongleur, or juggler, whose tricks formed 
much of the amusement of a Gothic castle. 
Some instances of this art may be found in the 
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Bordery vol iii. p. 
119. In a strange allegorical poem called the 
Houlat, written by a dependant of the house of 
Douglas about 1452-3, the jay, in an assembly 
of birds, plays the part of the juggler. His 
feats of glamour are thus described. 
He gart theme see, as it semy t, in samin houre> 

Hunting at herdis in holtis so hair ; 
Sonne sailand on the see schippis of toure, 

Bernis batalland on burd brim as a bare ; 

He could carye the coup of the kingis des. 
Syne leve in the stede, 
Bot a blak bunvvede ; 
He could of a henis hede, 

Mak a man mes. 
He gart the emprouretrow, andtrewlye behalf. 

That the corncraik^ tlie pundare at hand. 



CANTO THIRD. 145 

Had poyndit all his pris hors in a poynd fald' 

Because thai eite of the corn in the kirkland. 

He could wirk \vindaries,quhat way that he w aid; 

Make a gray gus a gold garland, 
A lang spere of a bittile for a berne bald, 
Nobbillis of nutschelles, and silver of sand. 
Thus joukit with juxters the janglane ja, 
Fair ladyes in ringis, 
Kynchtis in caralyngis, 
Bayth dansis and singis, 
It seemyt as sa. 

.Yow^ if you ask who gave the stroke^ 

I cannot tell^ so mot I thyi-ve ; 

It was not given by man alive, — X. p. 34. 

Some writer, upon Djemonology, tells us of a 
person, who was very desireus to establish a 
connection with the invisible world ; and fail- 
ing in all his conjurations, began to entertain 
doubts of the existence of spirits. While this 
thought'" was passing through his mind, he re- 
ceived from an unseen hand, a very violent 
blow. He had immediately recourse to his 
magical arts; but was unsuccessful in evoking 
the spirit, who had made his existence so sen- 
sibly felt. A learned priest told him, long af- 
ter, that the being who had so chastised his 
incredulity, would be the first whom he should 
see after his death. 

The running stream dissolved the sjiell — 

Xlil. p. 35 

It is a firm article of popular faith, that no 
enchantment c?ai subsist in a living stream.— - 
Nay, if you can interpose a brook betwixt you, 
and witches, spectres, or even fiends, you are 
in perfect safety. Barn's inimitable Tarn o* 
Shanter turns entirely upon such a circumstance. 
The belief seems to be of antiquity, Bromp- 



146 NOTES ON 

ton informs us, that certain Irish wizards could, 
by spells, convert earthen clods, or stones into 
fat pi^s, which they sold in the market; but 
which always reassumed their proper form, 
when driven by the deceived purchaser, across 
a running stream.. But Brompton is severe on 
the Irish, for a very good reason : ** Gens ista 
spurcissima non solvunt decimas." Chronicon 
Johannis Brompton apud decern Scriptores, 
p. 1076. 

His buckler scarce in breadth a span, 

.^'0 longer fence had he ; 
He never counted him a man. 

Would strike below the knee-^lsNW, p. 57. 
Imitated from Drayton's account of Robin 
Hood and his followers. 

A hundred valiant men had this brave Robin Hood, 
Still ready at his call, that bowmen were right good; 
All clad in Lincoln green, v.ith caps of red and blue, 
>!fs fellows winded horn not of them but knew. 
When setting to their lips their little bugles shrill. 
The warbling echoes waked from every dale and hill ; 
Their bauldrics set with studs athwart their shoulders^ 

cast. 
To which under their arms their sheafs were buckled 

fast. 
A short sword at their belt, a buckler scarce a span, 
Who struck below the knee not counted then a man. 
All made of Spanish yew, their bows were wondrous 

sti^ong, 
They not an arrow drew but was a cloth^^ard long; 
Of archery they had the very perfect craft. 
With broad arrow, or but, or prick, or roving shaft. 
Poly Qlbion, Song 26. 

To wound an antagonist in the thigh, or leg, 
^was reckoned contrary to the law of arms. In 
a tilt betwixt Gawain Michael, an English 
squire, and Joachim Cathore, a Frenchman, 



CANTO THIRD. 147 

^* they met at the spear e poyntes rudely ; the 
French squyer justed right pleasantly ; the 
Englishman ran too lowe, for he strake the 
Frenchman depe into the thygh. Wherewith 
the earl of Buckingham was ryght sore dis- 
pleased, and so were all the other lordes, and 
sayde how it were shamefully done." FroiSsart, 
vol. i. ch. 366. Upon a similar occasion, '* the 
two knights came a foot ech agaynst other 
rudely, with their speares lowx coached, to 
stryke eche other within the foure quarters. — 
Johan of Castell Morante strake the Englysh 
squyer on the brest in such wyse that Sir Wil- 
ly am Fermeton stombled and bowed, for his 
fote a lytell fayled him. He helde his speare 
lowe with both his handes, and coude nat 
amende it, and strake Sir Johan of Castle Mo- 
rante in the thyghe, so that the speare went 
cleane throughe, that the heed w^as sene a 
liandful on the other syde. And Syre Johan 
with the stroke reled, but he fell nat. Than 
the English knyghtes and squyers w^ere ryghte 
sore displeased, and sayde how it was a foul 
stroke. Syr W^illyam Fermy ton excused him- 
selfe, and sayde how he was sorie of that ad- 
venture, and howe that yf he had knowen that 
it shulde have bene so, he wolde never have 
begon it ; sayenge howe he coude nat amende 
it, by cause of glaunsing of his fote by constraynt 
of the great stroke that Syr John of the Castell 
Morante had given him.". Ibid. ch. 273. 

And with a charm she staunched the blood. 

XXII. p. 39. 
See several charms for this purpose in Regi- 
nald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft^ p. 27 o. 

Tom Pots was but a serving man, 
But yet he ^Yw-.s a doctor ^ood ; 



148 NOTES ON 

He boundliis handkerchief on the wound, 
And with some kinds of words he staunch^ed 

the blood. 
Pieces of ancient fiojiular Poetry. London> 

1791, p. 131. 

But she has ta*en the broken lance^ 
jind washed it from the clotted gore^ 
And salved the splinter o^er and o^er — 

XXIII. p. 39. 
Sir Kenelm Digby, in a discourse upon the 
cure by sympathy pronounced at Montpe- 
lier, before an assembly of nobles and learned 
men, translated into English by R. White, gen- 
tleman, and published in 1658) gives us the fol- 
lowing curious surgical case. 

** Mr. James Howel (well known in France 
for his public works, and particularly for his 
Dendrologie, translated into Fixnch by Mons. 
Baudouin) coming by chance, as two of his 
best friends were fighting in duel, he did his 
endeavour to part them ; and putting himselfe 
between them, seized with his left hand upon 
the hilt of the sword of one of the combatants, 
while, with his right hand, he laid hold of the 
blade of the other. They, being transported 
with fury one against the other, struggled 
to rid themselves of the hindrance their 
friend made that they should not kill one anoth- 
er; and one of them roughly drawing the blade 
of his sword, cuts to the very bone the nerves 
and muscles of Mr. Howel's hand ; and then 
th^ other disengaged his hilts and gave a crosse 
blow on his adversarie's head, which glanced 
towards his friend, who heaving up his sore 
hand to save the blow, he was wounded on the 
back of his hand as he had been before within. 
It seems some strange constellation reigned* 
then against him, that he should lose so much 



CANTO THIRD. 149 

blood by parting two such dear friends, who,^ 
had they been themselves, would have hazard- 
ed both their lives to have preserved his : but 
this unvoluntary effusion of blood by them, pre- 
vented that which they shoulde have drawn one 
from the other. For they, seeing Mr Howel's 
face besmeared with blood, by heaving up his 
wounded hand, they both run to embrace him, 
and having searched his hurts, they bound up 
his hand, with one of his garters, to close the 
veins which were cut and bled abundantly. 
They brought him home, and sent for a sur- 
geon. But this being heard at court, the king 
sent one of his own surgeons ; for his majesty 
much affected the said Mr. Howel, 

** It was my chance to be lodged ha,vd by him ; 
and four or five days after, as I was making 
myself ready, he came to my house, and pray- 
ed me to view his wounds; * for I understand,' 
said he, * that you have extraordinary remedies 
on such occasions, and my surgeons apprehend 
some fear that it may grow to a gangrene, and 
so the hand must be cut off.* In effect, his coun- 
tenance discovered that he was in much pain, 
which he said was insupportable, in regard of 
the extreme inflammation. I told him I would 
willingly serve him; but if haply he knew the 
manner how I would cure him, without touch- 
ing or seeing him, it may be he would not ex- 
pose himself to my manner of curing, because 
he would think it, peradventure, either ineffec- 
tual or superstitious. He replied, • The won- 
derful things which many have related unto me 
of your way of mediciiiement, makes me no- 
thing doubt at all of its efficacy : and all tliat I 
have to say unto you is comprehended in the 
Spanish prgverb, Hc^ga^e el imlagro ij ha^aiQ Ma 



IJO NOTES ON 

noma, let the miracle be done, though Mahomet 
do it/ 

" I asked him then for any thing that had 
the blood upon it ; so he presently sent for his 
garter, ^vherewith his hand was first bound ; 
and as I called for a bason of water, as if I 
would wash my hands, I took a handful of pow- 
der of vitriol, which I had in my study and pre- 
sently dissolved it. As soon as the bloody garter 
was brought me, I put it within the bason, ob- 
serving in the interim, w^hat Mr. Howel did, 
who stood talking with a gentleman in a corner 
of my chamber, not regarding at all what I was 
doing; but he started suddenly,as if he had found 
some strange alteration in himself. I asked him 
•^vhat he ailed ? I know not what ails me ! but I 
finde that I feel no more pain. Methinks that 
a pleasing kinde of freshnesse, as it were a wet 
cold napkin, did spread over my hand, which^ 
hath taken away the inilammation that torment- 
ed me before.' I replyed, ' Since then that 
you feel already so good effect of my medica- 
ment, I advise you, to cast away all your plays- 
Tcrs ; only keep the v/ound clean, and in a mod- 
erate temper, betwixt heat and cold.' This 
v7as presently reported to the duke of Bucking- 
ham, and a little after to the king, who were 
both very curious to know the circumstance of 
the business, which was, tiiat after dinner I took 
the garter out of the water, and put it to dry be- 
fore a great fire. It was scarce dry, but Mr. 
Howel's servant came running, that his master 
felt as much burning as ever he had done, if not 
more ; for the heat was such as if his hand 
were twixt coals of fire. I answered, although 
that had happened at present,yct he should find 
ease in a short time ; for I knew the reasori of 
this new accident, aiid would provide according- 



CANTO THIRD Ijf 

y ; for his master should be free from that in- 
fianuTiatioD, it may be before he could possibly 
return to him ; but in case he found no ease, I 
wished liim to come presently back again ; if 
not, he might forbear coming. Thereupon he 
went ; and at the instant I did put the garter 
into the water, thereupon he found his master 
without aiy pain at all. To be brief there was 
no sense of pain afterward; but within five or 
six dayes the woundes were cicatrized, and en- 
tirely healed." p. 6. 

The king (James VI.) obtained from Sir Ken- 
elm the discovery of his secret, which he pre- 
tended had been taught him by a Carmelite 
friar, who had learned it in Armenia or Persia. 
Let not the age of animal magnetism and met- 
tallic tractors smile at the sympathetic powder 
of Sir Kenelm Digby. Reginald Scot mentions 
the same mode of cure in these terms ; *' And 
that which is more strange, they can remedie 
anie stranger with that verie sword wherewith 
they are wounded. Yea, and that which is be- 
yond all admiration, if they stroke the sword 
upv/ards with their fingers, the partie shall 
feele no pain, whereas, if they draw their fin- 
gers downwards, thereupon the partie wound- 
ed shall feele intolerable pain." I presume that 
the success ascribed to the sympathetic mode 
of treatment might arise from the pains bestow- 
ed in washing the wound, and excluding the air 
thus bringing on a cure by the first intention.^ 
It is introduced by Dryden, in the Enchanted 
Island, a very unecessary alteration of the 
Temjiest, 

Aiiel. Annoint the sword which pierced him with this 

Weapon salve, and wrap it close from air, 

Till 1 hare time to visit him again. Act u. sc. 2, 



152 NOTES ON 

Again, in scene 4th, Miranda enters with Hip- 
polito's sword wrapt up, 

Hif. O my wound pains me. . {She unwraps the sicord . 

Mir. I am come to ease you. 

Hip. Alas, I feel the cold air come to me; 
j»y wound shoots worse than ever. (ike sword. 

Afir. Does it still grieve you ? {she ivipes and anoints 

M^p, Now, methinks, there's something laid just upon 

(it. 

Mir. Do you find no ease ? ^ 
Hp. Yes, yes ; upon the sudden all this pain 
Is leaving me. Sw eet heaven, how I am eased ! 

On Penchryst glows a bale of Jire^ 

And three are kindling on Priest haughsnvire 

XXVII. p. 41. 
The border beacons, from their number and 
position, formed a sort of telegraphic communi- 
cation with Edinburgh. The act of parliament 
1455, c. 48, directs that one bale or faggot shall 
be warning of the approach of the English in 
any manner; two bales that they are coming 
indeed ; four bales, blazing beside each other, 
that the enemy are in great force. *'The same 
taikenings to be watched and maid at Egger- 
hope Castell, fra they see the fire of Hume, 
that they fire richt swa. And in like manner 
on Sowtra edge, sail se the fire of Eggerhope 
Castell, and maktaikening in like manner: and 
then may all Louthiane be warned, and in spe- 
cial the Castell of Edenburgh; and their four 
fires to be maid in like maner, that they in Fife 
and fra Strivling east, and the east part of Lou- 
thiane, and to Dunbar, all may se them, and 
come to the defense of the relame." These bea- 
cons (at least in later times) were ** a long and 
strong tree set up, with a long iron pole across 
the head of it, and an iron brander fixed on a 



CANTO THIRD. US 

stalk in the middle of it, for holding a tar barrel 
Stevenson's History , vol. ii. p. 701. 

Our kin and clan and friends to raise-*- 

XXVII. p. 41. 

The speed with which the Borderers col- 
lected great bodies of horse, may be judged of 
from the following extract, when the subject 
of the rising was much less important than 
that supposed in the Romance. It is taken 
from Carey's Memoirs. 

** Upon the death of the old lord Scroope, 
the queen gave the west wardenry to his son, 
that had married my sister. He, having re- 
ceived that office, came to me with great ear- 
nestness, and desired me to be his deputy, of- 
fering me that I should live with him in his 
house ; that he would allow me half a dozen 
men, and as many horses, to be kept at his 
charge ; and his fee being one thousand marks 
yearly, he would part it with me, and I should 
have the half. This his noble oifer I accepted 
of, and went with him to Carlisle; where I 
was no sooner come, but I entered into my 
office. We had a stirring time of it, and 
few days past over my head but I was on 
horseback, either to prevent mischief, or to 
take malefactors, and to bring the Border in 
better quiet than it had been in times past. 
One memorable thing of God's mercy shewed 
unto me was such, as I have good cause still 
to remember it. 

" I had private intelligence given me, that 
there was two Scottish men, that had killed a 
churchman in Scotland, and were by one of 
the Grames relieved. This Grame dwelt with- 
in five miles of Carlisle. He had a pretty 
house, and close by it a strong tower, fgr his 



154 NOTES ON 

own defence in time of need. About twd 
clock in the morning, I took horse in Carlisle, 
and not above twenty-five in my company, 
thinking: to surprise the house on a sudden. 
Before I could surround the house, the two 
Scott s were gotten into the strong tower, and I 
could see a boy riding from the house as fast 
as his horse could carry him ; I little suspect- 
ing what it meant. But Thomas Carleton 
cam.e to me presently, and told me, that if I 
did not presently prevent it, both myself and 
all my company would either be slain, or taken 
prisoners. It was strange to me to hear this lan- 
guage. He then said to me, * Do you see that 
boy that rideth away so fast ? He will be in Scot- 
land within this half hour ; and he is gone to let 
them know, that you are here, and to what 
end you are come, and the small number you 
have vvith you ; and that if they make haste, on 
a sudden, they may surprise us, and do with 
us v/hat they please.' Hereupon he took ad- 
vice what was best to be done. We sent no- 
tice presently to all parts to raise the country, 
and to come to us with all the speed they 
could; and withal we sent to Carlisle to raise 
the townsmen ; for without foot we could do 
no good against the tower. There we staid 
some hours, expecting more company; and 
within short time after the country came in on 
all sides, so that we were quickly between 
three and four hundred horse ; and after some 
longer stay, the foot of Carlisle came to us, to 
the number of three or four hundred men ; 
whom we set presently at work, to get up to 
the top of the tower, andifo uncover the roof; 
and ihen some twenty of them to fall down to- 
gether, and by that means to win the tower. 
The Scotts, seeing their present danger, offer- 



CANTO THIRD. 155 

ed to parley, and yielded themselves to my 
mercy. They had no sooner opened the iron 
gate, and yielded themselves my prisoners, but 
we might see four hundred horse within a 
quarter of a mile coming to their rescue, and 
to surprise me and my small company ; but of 
a sudden they stayed, and stood at gaze. 
Then had I more to do than ever ; for all our 
Borderers came crying with full mouths, ' Sir, 
give us leave to set upon them ; for these are 
they that have killed our fathers, our broth- 
ers, and uncles, and our cousins ; and they are 
come thinking to surprise you, upon weak 
grass nags, such as they could get on a sud- 
den ; and God hath put them in your hands, 
that we may take revenge of them for much 
blood that they have spilt of ours.' I desired 
they would be patient a while, and bethought 
myself, if I should give them their will, there 
would be few or none of the Scotts that 
would escape unkilled (there ^vere so many 
deadly feuds among them ;) and therefore I 
resoked with myself to give them a fair an- 
swer but not to give them their desire. So I 
told them, that if I were not there myself, 
they might then do what pleased themselves ;. 
but being present, if I should give them leave, 
the blood that should be spilt that day would 
lie very hard upon my conscience. And there- 
fore, I desired them, for my sake, to forbear ; 
and if the Scotts did not presently make away 
with all the speed they could, upon my send- 
ing to them, they should then have their wills 
to do what they pleased. They were ill satis- 
fied with my answer, but durst not disobey. I 
sent with speed to the Scots, and bade them 
pack away with all the speed they could ; for 
if they stayed the messenger's return, they 



i56 KOTES ace. 

should few of them return to their own home. 
They made no stay ; but they were turned 
homewards before the messenger had made an 
. end of his message. Thus, by God's mercy^ I 
I escaped a great danger; and, by my means^ 
there were a great many men's lives saved that 
day." 

On many a cairn'' s gray fiyramid^ 
Where urns of mighty chiefs lie hid, 

XXIX. p. 42. - 
The cairns, or piles of loose stone, which 
orown the summit of most of our Scottish 
hills, and are found in other remarkable situa- 
tions, seem usually, though not universally, to 
have been sephulchral monuments. Six flat 
stones are commonly found in the centre, form- 
ing a cavity of greater or smaller dimensions, 
in which an urn is often placed. The author 
is possessed of one discovered beneath an im- 
mense cairne at Roughlee, in Liddesdale. It 
is of the most barbarous construction ; the 
middle of the substance alone having been sub- 
jected to the fire, over which, when hardened, 
the artist had laid an inner and outer coat of un- 
baked clay, etched with some very rude orna- 
ments : his skill apparently being inadequate 
to baking the vase when completely finished. 
The contents were bones and ashes, and a 
quantity of beads made of coal. This seems 
to have been a barbarous imitation of the Re- 
man fashion of sepulture. 



NOTES ON CANTO FOURTH. 



Great Dundee. II. p. 44, 

The viscount of Dundee, slain in the battle 
of Killycrankie. 

'For pathless marsh and caverned celly 
The peasant leaves his loivly shed. 

III. p. 45. 
The morasses were the usual refuge of the 
Border herdsmen, on the approach of an En- 
glish army. (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 
vol. i. p. 49 ) Caves, hewed in the most dan- 
gerous and inaccessible places, also afforded 
an occasional i-etreat. Such caverns may be 
seen in the precipitous banks of the Teviot, at 
Sunlaws and Ancram, upon the Jed at Hunda- 
lee, and in many other places upon the Border. 
The banks of the Eske, at Gorton and Haw- 
thaw den, are hollowed into similar recesses. 
But even these dreary dens were not always 
secure places of concealment. *' In the way 
as we came, not far from this place, (Long 
Niddry) Geore;e Ferres, a gentleman of my 
lord Protector's — happened upon a cave in the 
ground, the mouth whereof was so worne with 
the fresh printe of steps, that he seemed to be 
certayne, thear were sum folke within ; and 
gone doune to try, he was readily recyved with 
a hakebut or two. He left them not yet, till 
he had knowen whvther thei wolde be content 



158 NOTES ON 

to yelde and come out, whiche they fondly re- 
fusing, he went to my lorde's grace, and upon 
utterance of the thynge, gat licence to deale 
with them as he could; and so returned to 
them, with a skore or two of pionefs. Three 
ventes had their cave, that we ware of, where- 
of he first stopt up one ; anoother he iil'd ful 
of strawe, and set it a feyer, whereat they with- 
in cast waterapace ; but it was so wel mayntayn- 
ed without, that the feyer prevayled, and thei 
within fayn to get them belyke into anoother par- 
ier. Then devised we(iorIhapttobe with hym) 
to stop the same up, whereby we should eyth- 
er smoother them, or fynd out their ventes, if 
thei hadde any moe : as this was doon at ano* 
ther issue, about a xii score of we moughte 
see the fume of their smoke to come out ; the 
which continued with so great a force, and so 
long a while, that we could not but thinke they 
must needs get them out, or smoother v/ithin ; 
and forasmuch as we found not that they dyd 
the tone, we thought it for certain thei were 
sure of the toother. Patten's Account of Som- 
erset's expedition into Scotland, apud Dalzel's 
Fragments. 

Southern ravage. III. p. 45. 

From the following fragment of a letter from 
the earl of Northumberland to king Henry 
VIII. preserved among the Cotton MSS. Calig. 
B. vii. 179, the reader may estimate the na- 
ture of the dreadful war which was occasion- 
ally waged upon the Borders, sharpened by 
mutual cruelties, and the personal hatred of 
the wardens or leaders. 

Some Scottish barons, says the earl, had 
threatened to come within ** thre miles of my 
pore house of Workworthe, v/her I lye, and 



CANTO FOURTH. 159 

gif me light to put on my clothes at mydnyght ; 
andalsoo the said Marke Carr said there opyn- 
ly, that seyng they had a governor on the mar- 
ches of Scotland, as well as they haid in Ing^ 
land, he shulde kepe your highnes instructions, 
gyffyn unto your garyson, for making of any 
dayforrey ; for he and his friends wolde burne 
enoughon thenyght, lettyngyour counsaill here 
defyne a notable acte at theyre pleasures. Up- 
on whiche, in your highnes' name, I comaund^ 
ed dewe watche to be kepte on your marchies, 
for comyng in of any Scots. Neutheless, upon 
Thursday at nyght last, came thyrty light 
horsemen into a litill village of myne, called 
Whitell, having not past sex howses, lying to- 
ward Ryddisdaill, upon Shilbotell more, and 
ther wold have fyred the said howes, but ther 
was noo fyre to get ther, and they forgate to 
brynge any withe they me; and tok a wyf, be- 
ing great withe chylde, in the said toowne, and 
said to hyr, VVher we can not gyve the lard 
light, yet we shall doo this in spyte of hym ; 
and gave hyr iii mortall wounds upon the held, 
and another in the right side, with a dagger : 
whereupon the said wyf is dede, and the chylde 
in hyr belly is loste. Beseeching yovir most 
gracious highness to reduce unto your gracious 
memory this wylfull and shamefull murder, 
done within this your highnes' realme, not- 
withstanding all the inhabitants thereabout 
rose unto the said fray, and gave warnynge by 
becons unto the contrey afore they me, and yet 
the Scottsmendyde escape; anduppon certeyne 
knowledge to my brother Clyfforthe and me, 
had by credable persons of Scotland, this abom- 
ynable act not only to be done by dyverse of 
the Mei'she, but also the afore named persons 
of Ty vidaill, and consented to, as by aparaunce. 



166 NOTES ON 

by the erle of Murey, upon Friday at nyglit 
last, let slip of the best horsemen of Glendaill> 
with a part of yourhighnes'subjects of Berwyke, 
together with George Dowglas, whoo came in- 
to Ingland agayne, in the dawning of the day ; 
but afore theyre retorne, they dyd mar the erle 
of Murey 's provisions at Coldingham ; but they 
dyd not only burne the said towne of Colding- 
ham, with all the corne thereunto belonging, 
Vfhich is estemed wurthe cii marke sterling; 
but alsoo burned twa townes nye adioning there- 
unto called Branerdergets and the Black Hill, 
and toke xxiiii persons, Ix horse, with cc hed 
of cataill, whiche nowe, as I am informed, hathe 
not only bene a staye of the said erle of Murey's 
not com\ ng to the bordur as yet, but also, that 
none inlande man will adventure theyre selfs 
uppon the marches. And as for the tax that 
sliuide have bene grauntyd for finding of the 
said iii hundred men, is utterly denied Upon 
whiche the king of Scotland departed from Ed- 
ynburgh to Stirling, and as yet ther doth re- 
niayn. ^ And alsoo I, by the advice of my bro- 
tlier Clffforthe, have devysed that within this 
iiii nyghts, Godde wylling, Kelsey, in lyke case, 
shal be burnet, with ail the corne in the said 
town ; and tlien they shall have noo place to 
lye any garyson in, nygh unto the borders. And 
as I shall atteigne further knawledge, I shall 
not faill to satisfye your highness, ac-cording to 
my most bounden dutie And for this burnyng 
of Kelsey is devysed to be done secretly, by 
Tyndaill' and Ryddisdale. And thus the holy 
Trynite and * * * your most royal estate, 
w^ith long iyf and as muche increase of honour 
as your most noble heart can desire, jit Werk- 
u-ort/i, the xxiir/z daij of October,'* (1522.) 



CANTO FOURTH. 
IVat Tiniinn Ver&e IV. p. 45. 



xei 



This person was, in ray younger days, the 
theme of many a fireside tale. He was retain- 
er' of the Buccleuch family, and held for his 
borderser\ice a small tower on the frontiers of 
Liddesdale. Wat was by profession a sutoi\ 
but, by inclination and practice, an archer and 
warrior. Upon one occasion, the captain of 
Bewcastle, military governor of that wild dis- 
trict of Cumberland, is said to have made an 
incursion into Scotland, in which he was de- 
feated, and forced to fly. Wat Tiniinn pursu- 
ed him closely through a dangerous morass : 
the captain, however, gained the firm ground ; 
and seeing Tiniinn dismounted, and llounder- 
ing in the bog, used these words of insult, '* Su- 
tor Wat ye cannot sew your boots ; the heels 
ri^/iy and the seams rive. ^^ a ** If I cannot sew, 
retorted Tinliim, discharging a .shaft which 
nailed the captain's thigh to his saddle, *' If I 
cannot sew, 1 can yerkT b 

Bilholie Stag...yevse v, 45. 

There is an old rhyme which thus celebrates 
the places in Liddesdale, remarkable for game. 
Bilhope braes for bucks and raes; 

And Carit haughs for swine, 
And Tarras for the good bulltrout, 
If he be ta'en in time. 

The bucks and roes, as well as the wild swine, 
are now extinct ; but the good bulltrout is still 
famous. 
0/ silver breach and bracelet proiicL V. 5, p A6 

As the Borderers were indifieient about the 
furniture of their Jiabitations, so much expo- 
sed to be burned and plundered, they v/ere 

a Pisp— creak. Rive — tear. 
h Yerk— to twitch, as shoemakers do, in secutinr the 
stitches of their work. 

M 



162 NOTES ON 

proportionally anxious to display splendor in 
decorating and ornamenting their females. See 
Lesley de Moribus Limit ane or wn, 

, Belted Will Hovoard, V. vi, p. 46. 
Lord William Howard, third son of Thomas, 
duke of Norfolk, succeeded toNaworth Castle, 
and a large domain annexed to it, in right of 
his wife Elizabeth, sister of George Lord Da- 
cre, vvho died without heirs male, in the 11th 
of queen Elizabeth. By a poetical anachro- 
nism, he is introduced into the romance a few 
years earlier than he actually flourished. He 
was warden of the western marches ; and, from 
the rigor with which he repressed the Border 
excesses, the name of Belted Will Howard is 
still famous in our traditions. In the castle of 
Naworth, his apartments, containing abedroom, 
oratory, and library, are still shewn. They im- 
press us with an unpleasing idea of the life of 
a lord warden of the marches. Three or four 
strong doors, separating these rooms from the 
rest of the castle, indicate apprehensions of 
treachery from his garrison ; and the secret 
winding passages, through which he could pri- 
vately descend into the guardroom, or even in- 
to the dungeons, imply the necessity of no small 
degree of secret superindendance on the part 
of the governor. As the ancient books and fur- 
niture have remained undisturbed, the venera- 
ble appearance of these apartments, and the 
armour scattered around the chamber, almost 
lead us to expect the arrival of the warden in 
person. Naworth castle is situated near 
Brampton, in Cumberland. Lord William 
Howard is ancestor of the earls of Carlisle. 
Lord Dacre..,.Verse VI. p. 46. 
The well known name of Dacre is derived 
from the exploits of one of their ancestors at 



CANTO FOURTH. 163 

the sie^e of Acre or Ptolcmais, under Richard 
Coeur de Lion. There were two powerful 
branches of that name. The first family cal- 
led lord Dacres tjf the south, held the castle of 
the same name, and are ancestors to the pre- 
sent lord Dacre. The other family, descen- 
ded from the same stock, were called lord Dac- 
res of the north, and were barons of Gilsland 
and Graystock. A cheftian of the latter 
branch was w^arden of the west marches dur- 
ing the reign of Edward VI. He was a man 
of a hot and obstinate character, as appears 
from some particulars of lord Surrey's letter 
to Henry VIII. giving an account of his be-- 
haviour at the seige and storm of Jedburgh. 
It is printed in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish 
Border^ Appendix to the Introduction. 
The German hagbut7ncn...,\\. p. 46. 
In the wars with Scotland Henry VIII. and 
his successors employed numerous bands of 
mercenary troops. At the battle of Pinky, 
there were in the English army six hundred 
hackbutteers on foot, and two hundred eu 
horseback, composed chiefly of foreigners. 
On the 27th September, 1549, the duke of 
Somerset, lord Protector, writes to the lord 
Daqre, warden of the west marches: *' The 
Almains, in number two thousand, very valiant 
soldiers, shall be sent to you shortly from 
Newcastle, together with Sir Thomas Holcroft, 
and with a force of your wardenry (which we 
would were advanced to the most strength of 
horsemen that might be), shall make the at- 
tempt to Loughmaben, being <$f no such 
strength but that it maybe skailed with lad- 
ders, whereof, beforehand, we would you cau- 
sed secretly some number to be pi-ovided ; or 
or else undermined with the pykeaxcj and sc 



164 NOTES ON 

taken : either to be kept for the king's majesty, 
or otherwise to be defaced, and taken from 
the profits of the enemy. And in hke manner 
the house of Carlaverok to be used. Repea- 
ted mention occurs of the Almams, m the sub- 
sequent correspondence ; and the enterprise 
seems finally to have been abandoned from the 
difficulty of providing these strangers withtlie 
necessary " victuals and carriages m so poor 
a country as Dumfriesshire. History of Cum- 
berland xol. i. Introd. p. 61. From the battle- 
pieces of tne ancient Flemish pamters. we 
learn that the Low Country and German sol- 
diers marched to an assault with their rignt 
knees bared. And we may also observe, in 
such pictures, the extravagance to which 
thev carried the fashion of ornamenting their 
dress with knots of ribband. '{'"^ custom of 
the Germans is alluded to in the Mirrour for 
Magistrates, p. 121. 

Their pleited garments therewith well accord, 
All jagde and frounst, with divers colours dect. 
His ready lances Thirlestane brave 
Arrayed beneath a banner bright., ^ "> P-// • 
Sir John Scott of Thirlestane flourished m 
in the reign of James V. and possessed the es- 
tates of Thirlestane, Gamescleugh, &c lying 
upon the river of Ettricke, and extending to 
St. Mary's Loch, at the head of Yarrow It 
Spears that when James had assembled his 
^oMity, and their feudal followers at Fala, 
Sh tlU purpose of invading England and was 
as s well known, disappointed by the obst n- 
ate refusal of his peers, this baron alone de- 
clared himself ready to follow the king wher- 
e'ei- ie should lead." In memon- to 1- hdelay, 
J^mes granted to his famUy a cnarler of aims,, 



GANTO FOURTH. 



165 



entitling them to bear a border of fleursdeluce 
similar to the treasure in the royal arms, with 
a bundle of spears for the crest ; motto, Rea- 
dy, aye Ready, The charter itself is printed 
by Nisbit ; but his work being scarce, I in- 
sert the following accurate transcript from the 
original, in the possession of the Right Hon- 
ourable Lord Napier, the representative of 
John of Thirlestane. 

*'James Rex. 
** We James, be the grace of God king of 
Scottis, consider and the ffaith and guid servis 
of of of c right traist friend John Scott of Thir- 
lestane, quha command to ourhoste at Soutra 
Edge, with three score and ten launciers on 
horseback of his friends and followers, and 
beand willing to gang with ws into England, 
when all our nobles and others refused, he was 
readdy to stake all at our bidding ; ffor the 
quhilk cause, it is our will, and we doe straitlie 
command and charg our lion herauld, and his 
deputis for the time beand, to give and to 
graunt to the said John Scott, ane Border ot 
ffleure de lises aboute his coat of armes, sik 
as is on our royal banner, and alsua ane bundell 
of launces above his helmet, with thir words, 
Readdy, ay Readdy, that he and all his after 
cummers may bruik the samine, as a pledge 
and taike, of our guid will and kyndnes for his 
treue worthiness; and thir our letters seen, ye 
nae wayes failzie to doe. Given at Ffalla Mu- 
ire, under our hand and privy cashet, the xxvii 
day of Jully, me and xxxxii zeires. By the 
king's graces speciall ordinance. Jo. Arskme. 
On the back of the charter is written, 
•* Edin. 14 January, 1713. Registred, con- 
form to the act of parliament made anent prq- 

C Sic in orig. 



166 KOTES OK 

bative writs, per M'Kaile, pror. atid producetl 
by Alexander Bothwick, servant to Sir Wil- 
liam Scott of Thirlestane. M. L. J." 
An aged knight to danger steeled^ 

IVith many a mosstroojier, came on ; 
Jnd azure in a golden /icld. 
The stars and crescent graced his shield, 
Without the bend of Murdieston. IX. p. 47. 
The family of Harden are descended from a 
younger son of the laird of Buccleuch, \vho 
tiourished before the estate of MiircVeston ^ya^s 
acquired bv the marriage of one of those chief- 
tains with" the heiress in 1296. Hence they 
bear the cognizance of theScotts upon the field; 
whereas those of the Buccleuch are disposed 
upon a bend dexter, assumed in consequence of 
that marriage. See Glandstaink of White- 
law's MSS. and Scott of Stokoes Pedigree, 
Newcastle, 1783 

Walter Scott of Harden, who flourished du- 
ring the reign of queen Mary, was a renowned 
Border freebooter, concerning whom tradition 
has preserved a variety of anecdotes, some of 
which have been published in the Minstrelsy 
of the Scottish Border, and others in Leyden's 
Scenes of In jancy. The buglehorn, said to 
have been used by this formidable leader, is 
preserved by his descendant, the present Mr. 
Scott of Harden. His castle was situated upon 
the verv brink of a dark and precipitous dell, 
through which a scanty rivulet steals to meet the 
Bothwick. Tn the recess of this glen he is said 
to have kept his spoil, which served for the 
daily maintenance of his retainers, until the 
production of a pair of clean spurs, in a Cvover- 
ed dish, amfQunced to the hungry band, that 
thev must ride for a supply of provisions. He 
was vriarricd to Maw Scott, daTiirhtcr of Phihp 



CANTO FOURTH. 167 

Scott of Dryhope, and called in song the Flow- 
er of Yarrow. He possessed a very extensive 
estate, which was divided among his five sons. 
There are numerous descendants of this old 
marauding baron. The following beautiful 
passage of Leyden's Scenes of Infancy is found- 
ed on a tradition respecting an infant captive, 
wliom Walter of Harden carried off in a preda- 
tory incursion, and who is said to have become 
the author of some of our most beautiful pastoral- 
songs. 

Where Cortba horse^ that loads the meads with sand, 
Kolls her red tide to Teviot's: western strand, 
Through slatly hdls, whose sides are shagged with thorn, 
Where Springs, in scattered tufts, the dark green corn. 
Towers wo dgirt Hardened far above the vale, 
And clouds of ravens o'er the turret sail; 
A hardy race, who never shrunk from war, 
The Scott, to rival realms a mighty bar, 
Here fixed his mountainhome; a wide domain, 
And rich the soil, had purple heath been grain; 
But, what the niggard ground of wealth denied. 
From fields more blessed his fearless arm supplied. 

The waning harvestmoon shone cold and bright ; 
The warder's horn was heard at dead of night , 
And, as the massy portals wide were t^ung. 
With stamping hoofs the ri.cky pavement rung. 
Wi\at fair, hulfveiied, h ans from her latticed hall, 
Where red the wavering gleams of torch! iglit fall ? 
'Tis Yarrow's fairest Fiovrer, who, through the gloom, 
Looks, wisiful, for her lover's dancing plume. 
Amid the piles of spoil, that strewed the ground, 
Her car, all anxious, caught a wailing sound; 
With trembling haste the youthful matron flcw 
And from the hurried heaps an infant drew : 

Scared at the light his little hands he flung, 
Around her neck, and to her lx>som rlung; 
While beauteous Mary soothed, in accents mild. 



169 NOTES ON 

His fluttering soul, and clasped her foster child. 
Of milder mood the gentle captive grew. 
Nor loved the scenes that scared his infant view 
In vales remote, from camps and castles far. 
He shunned the fearful shuddering joy of war ;^ 
Content the love of simple swains to sing, 
Or wake to fame the harp's heroic string. 

His are the strains, whose wandering echoes thrlli 
The shepherd, lingering on the twilight hill, 
When evenmg brings the merry folding hour?. 
And suneyed daisies close their winking flowers. 
He lived, o'er Yarrow's Flower to shed the tear. 
To strew the holly's leaves o'er Harden's bier ; 
But none was found above the Minstrel's tomb. 
Emblem of peace, to bid the daisy bloom : 
He, nameless as the race from which he sprung, 
Saved other names, and left his own unsung. 

The cam/2, their homey their law the sworcly 
They knew no country, ovjiied no lord. 

XV. p. 50. 
The mercenary adventurers, whom in 1380, 
the earl of Cambridge carried to the assistance 
of the king of Portugal against the Spaniards, 
mutinied for want of regular pay. At an as- 
sembly of their leaders, Sir John Soltier, a na- 
tural son of Edward the Black Prince, thus 
addressed them : ** I counsayle, let us be alle 
of one alliaunce, and of one accorde, and let us 
among ourselves reyse up the banner of Saint 
George,, and let us be friends to God, and ene- 
myes to all the worlde ; for without we make 
ourselves to be feared, w^e eette nothynge." — 
** By my fayth," quod Sir William Helmon, 
*' ye saye ryght well, and so lette us do."-»- 
Tiiey alle agreed with one voyce, and so re- 
garded among them who shulde be their capi- 
tayne. Then they advysed in the case how 
they conde nat have a better capitayne than 






yf. 



CANTO FOURTH. 1^9 

Sir John Soltier. For they sulde than have 
good leyser to do yvell, and they thought he 
was more metelyer thereto than any other. — 
Then they reysed np the penon of St. George, 
and cried, **x\ Soltier ! A Soltier ! the valyaunt 
bastarde ! frendes to God, and enemies to aile 
the worlde !" Froissart, vol. i. ch. 393. 

^gauntlet on a sfiear. XVIII. p. 52. 

A glove upon a lance was the emblem of 
faith among the ancient Borderers, who wei^ 
wont, when any one broke his word, to expose 
this emblem, and proclaim him a faithless vil- 
lain at the first Border meeting. This cere- 
mony was much dreaded. See Lesley. 

We claim from thee William of DelorainCy 
That he may suffer march treason pain. 

XXI. p. 55. 
Several species of offences, peculiar to the 
Border, constituted what was called march- 
treason. Among otherstwas the crime of rid- 
ing, or causing to ride, against the opposite 
country during the time of truce. Thus, in an 
indenture made at the water of Eske, beside 
6alom, the 25th day of March, 1384, betwixt 
noble lords and mighty, Sirs Henry Percy, earl 
©f Northumberland, and archibald of Douglas, 
lord of Galoway, a truce is agreed upon until 
the 1st day of July ; and it is expressly accord- 
ed, " Gif ony stellis authir on the ta part, or 
on the tothyr, that he shall be henget or heof- 
dit ; and gif ony cumpany stellis on gudes 
•wythin the trieux before sayde, ane of that 
Gumpany sail be henget or heofdit, and the 
remnant sail restore the gudes stollen in the 
double. History of Westmoreland and Cum- 
berland, Introd. p. xxxix. 



170 NOTES ON 

— Willia ?n of D elo ra iii e 

Will clearise him ^ by oath ^ of marchtrcasOft 
stain, XXIII. p. 54. 

In dubious cases, the innocence of Border 
criminals was occasionally referred to their own 
oath. The form of excusing bills or indict- 
rnents, by Borderoath, ran thus: ** You shall 
swear by heaven above you, hell beneath you, 
by your part of Paradise, by all that God made 
in six days and seven nights, and by God him- 
self, you are whnrt out sackless of art, part, 
way, witting, ridd, kenning, having, or recett- 
ing of any of the goods and cattells named in 
this bill. So help you God." History of Cum- 
berland, Introd. p. XXV. 

Knighthood he took of Douglas sword — 

XXIII. p. 54. 

The dignity of kni-ghthood, according to the 
original institution, had this peculiarity, that it 
-did not flow from the monarch, but could be 
conferred by one who himself possessed it, upon 
any squire who, after due probation, was found 
to merit the honour of chivalry. Latterly, 
this power was confined to generals, who were 
wont to create knights bannerets after ov be- 
fore an engagement. Even so late as the reign 
of queen Elizabeth, Essex highly offended his 
jealous sovereign by the indiscriminate exer- 
tion of this privilege. Amongst others, he 
knighted the witty Sir John Harrington, whose 
favour at court was by no means enhanced by 
Ins new honours. See the Kugai Antiquas, edit- 
ed by IMr. Park. But probably the latest in- 
stance of knighthood, conferred by a subject, 
w^as in the case of Thomas Ker, knighted by 
the earl of Huntley, after the defeat of the earl 
oi' Argvle in the battle of Dcirinncs. The fact 



CANTO FOURTH. in 

IS attested, both by a poetical and prose ac- 
count of the engagement, contained in a MS. 
in the Advocates Library, and lately edited 
by Dalyell, in Godly Sangs and Ballets, Edin, 
1802. 

JVheJi Engliah blood swelled Ancramford-^ 

XXIII. p. 54. 

The battle of Ancram Moor, or Penielheuch, 
was fought A. D. 1545. The English, com- 
manded by Sir Ralph livers and Sir Brian La- 
toune were totally routed, and both their lead- 
ers slain in the action. The Scottish army 
was commanded by Archibald Douglas, earl 
of Angus, assisted by the laird of Buccleuch 
and Norman Lesley. 

The blanch /?o?2.— XXVIL p. 58. 

This was the cognizance of the noble house 
of Howard in all its branches. The crest, or 
bearing, of a warrior was often used as a nomme 
de guerre. Thus Richard HI. acquired 
his well known epithet, the Boar of York. In 
the violent satire on Cardinal Wolsey, com- 
monly, but erroneously, impvited to Dr. Bull, 
the duke of Buckingham is called the Beautiful 
Swan, and the duke of Norfolk, or earl of Sur- 
rey, the White Lion. As the book is extreme- 
ly rare, and the whole passage relates to the 
emblematical interpretation of heraldry, it shall 
be here given at length. 

TJie descrijicion of the armea. 
Of the proud C.ardinall this is the shelde, 
Borne up betwene two angels of Sathan ; 
The sixe blouddy axes in a bare felde, 
Sheweth the cruelte of the red man, 
\\ hich hath devoured the beautiful swan, 



172 KOTES ON 

Mortall enmy unto the whyte lion, 
Carter of Yorcke, the vyle butcher's sonHj^. 

The sixe bulles heddes in a felde blacke, 
Betokeneth his stordy furiousnes. 
Whereof the godly lyght to put abacke, 
He br} ngeth in his dy^lisshe darcnes ; 
The bandog in the middes doth expresse 
The mastif curre bred in Ypswitch towne, 
Gnawynne with his teth a kinges crowne. 

The cloubbe signifieth playne hys tiranny. 
Covered over with a Cardinal's hatt. 
Wherein shal be fulfilled the prophecy, 
Aryse up Jacke, and put on thy salatt. 
For the tyme is come of bagge and walatt. 
The temporall chevalry thus throw ne doune, 
Wherefor prest take hede, and beware thy 
croune. 

There are two. copies of this very scarce 
satire in the library of the late duke of Rox- 
burghe. 

het Musgrave meet fierce Deloraine^ 

In single Jight-^XXWl. p. 

It may easily be supposed, that trial by sin- 
gle combat, so peculiar to the feudal system, 
was common on the Borders. The following 
indenture will show at how late a period it was 
there resorted to, as a proof of guilt or inno- 
cence. 

*' It is agreed between Thomas Musgrave 
and Lancelot Carleton, for the true trial of 
such controversies as are betwixt them, to have 
it openly tried, by way of combat, before God 
and the face of the world, to try it in Canonby- 
holme, before England and Scotland, upon 
Thursday in Easter-week, being the eight day 
of April next ensuing, A. D. 1602, betwixt nine 



GANTO FOURTH. irs 

of the clock, and one of the same day, to fight 
on foot, to be armed with jack, steel cap, plaite 
sleeves, plaite breeches, plaite sockes, two 
baslaerd swords, the blades to be one yard 
and a half a quarter of length, two Scotch 
daggers or dorks at their girdles^ and either of 
them to provide armour and weapons for them- 
selves, according to this indenture. Two gen- 
tlemen to be appointed on the field to view 
both the parties, to see that they both be equal in 
arms and weapons, according: to this indenture ; 
and being so viewed by tlie gentlemen, the gen- 
tlemen to ride to the rest of the company, and 
to leave them but two boys viewed by the gen- 
tlemen, to be under 16 years of age. to hold 
their horses. In testimony of this our agree- 
ment, we have both set our hands to this inden- 
ture-, of intent all matters shall be made so 
plain, as there sliall be no question to stick 
upon that day. Which indenture, as a witness, 
shall be delivered to two gentlemen. And for 
that it is convenient the world should be privy to 
every particular of the grounds of tlie quarrel^ 
we have agreed to set it down in this indenture 
betwixt us, that knowing the quarrel, their 
eyes may be witness of the trial. 

The Grounds of the Quarrel. 
" 1. Lancelot Carleton did charge Thomas 
Musgrave before the lords of her majesty's 
privy council, that Lancelot Carleton was told 
by a gentleman, one of her majesty's sworn 
servants, that Thomas Musgrave had offered 
to deliver htir majesty's castle of Bewcastle to 
the king of Scots ; and to witness the same, 
Lancelot Carleton had a letter under tlie gen- 
tleman's own hand for his discharge. 



174 NOTES ON 

** 2. He cliargeth him, that, whereas her 
majesty doth yearly bestow a great fee upon 
him, as captain of Bewcastle, to aid and defend 
her majesty's subjects therein ; Thomas Mus- 
grave hath neglected his duty, for that her 
majesty's castle of Bewcastle was by him made 
a den of thieves, and an harbour and receipt 
for murderers, felons, and all sorts of misde- 
meanors. The precedent was Quinten White- 
head and Runion Blackburne. 

** 3. He chargeth him, that his office of Bew- 
castle is open for the Scotch to ride in and 
through, and small resistance made by him to 
the contrary. 

*' Thomas Musgrave doth deny all this 
charge ; and saith, that he will prove that 
Lancelot Carle ton doth falsely bely him, and 
will prove the same by way of combat, accord- 
ing to this indenture. Lancelot Carleton hath 
entertained the challenge ; and so, by God's 
permission, will prove it true as before, and 
hath set his hand to the same. 

(Signed) Thomas Musgrave. 

Lancelot Carleton." 

He^ the jovial Hai^/ier^XXXL p. 58. 

The person, here alluded to, is one of cur 
ancient Border-minstrels, called Rattling Roar- 
ing Willie This soudriquet was probably deriv- 
ed from his bullying disposition ; being, it 
would seem, such a roaring boy as i frequent- 
ly mentioned in old plays. While drinking at 
New mill, upon Teviot, about five miles from 
Hawick, Willie chanced to quarrel with one 
of his own profession, who was usually distin- 
guished by the odd name of Sweet Milk, from 
a place on Ruiewater so called. They retired 
to a meadow on the opposite side of the Teviot, 



CANTO FOURTH. 175 

to decide the contest with their swords, and 
Sweet Milke was killed on the spot. A thorn 
tree marks the scene of the murder, which is 
still called Sweet Milk thorn. Willie was 
taken and executed at Jedburgh, bequeathing 
his name to the beautiful Scottish air, called 
** Rattling Roaring Willie." Ramsay, who set 
no value on traditionary lore, published a few 
verses of this song in the Tea Table Miscella- 
ny, carefully suppressing all which had any 
connection with the history af the author, and 
origin of the piece. In this case, however, 
honest Allan is in some degree justified, by the 
extreme worthlessness of the poetry. A verse 
ov two may be taken as illustrative of the his* 
tory of Roaring Willie, alluded to in the text. 

Now Willie's gane to Jeddart, 
And he is for the rude day ; a 

But Stobs and young Falnash,<^ 
They followed him a' the way ; 

They followed him. a' the way. 
They sought him up and down, 

In the links of Ousenam water 
They fand him sleeping sound. 

Stobs lighted afF his horse, 

And never a word he spak, 
Till he tied Willie's hands 

Fu' fast behind his back, 
Fu' fast behind his back : 

And down beneath his knee. 
And drink will be dear to Willie, 

When Sweet Milk c gars him die* 

Ah wae light on ye, Sobs ! 
An ill death mot ye die I 

« The day of the Rood fair at Jedburgh. 

h Sir G'lbert Elliot of Stobs, and Scott of Falnash, 

c A wretched pun on his antagonist's name; 



IH NOTES ON" 

Ye're the first and foremost man 
That e'er laid hands on me. 

That e'er laid hands on me. 
And took my mare me frae ; 

Wae to yc, Sir Gilbert Elliott, 
Ye are my mortal fae ! 

The lasses of Ousenam water 

Are rugging and riving their hair^ 
And a' for the" sake of W illie. 

His beauty was so fair ; 
His beauty was so fair. 

And comely for to see. 
And drink will be dear to Willie, 
When sweet milk gars him die. 
J3lack lord Archibald's battle lavjs. 
In the old D(jugla~^\day — XXXI. p. ^^. 
The title to the mo^t ancient collection of 
Border regulations run thus: 

'' Be it remembered, that on the ISth day of 
December, i4o8, earl William Douglas as- 
sembled the whole lords, free-holders, and eld- 
est Borderers, that best knowledge had, at the 
ccile?;e of Linclouden ; and there he caused 
thofte"^' lords and Borderers bodily to be sworn, 
the Holy Gospel touched, that they justly and 
tn:-v, after their cunning, should decrete, de- 
cern, deliver, and put in order and writing, the 
statutes, ordinances, and uses of marche, that 
v/ere ordained in Black Archibald of Douglas's 
days, and Archibald his son's days, in time of 
warfare ; and they came again to him advis- 
edly with these statutes and ordinances, which 
were in time of warfare before. The said 
earl William, seeing the statutes in writing de- 
creed and delivered by the said lords and Bor- 
derers, thought them right speedful and profi- 
table to the Borderers; the w^hich statutes, or- 



\ 



CANTO FOURTH. irr 

dinances, and points of warfare, he took, and 
the whole lords and Borderers he caused bodi- 
ly to be sworn, that they should maintain and 
supply him, at their goodly power, to do the 
law upon those that shoidd break the statutes 
underwritten. Also the said earl W' illiam, and 
lords, and eldest Borderers, made certain points 
to be treason in time of warfare to be used> 
which were no treason before his time, but to 
be treason in his time, and in all time coming," 



*i 



K 



NOTES ON, CANTO FIFTH; 

«=«<^<i==— 

The Bloody Heart blazed in the van^ 
Announcing Douglas, dreaded name I 

IV. p. 61. 
The chief of this potent race of heroes, a- 
bout the date of the poem, was Archibald 
Douglas, seventh earl of Angus, a man of great 
courage and activity. The bloody heart was 
the well known cognizance of the house of 
Douglas, assumed from ^he time of Good Lord 
James, to whose care Robert Bruce committed 
his heart, to be carried to the Holy Land. 

Beneath the crest of old Dunbar, 

And Hepburn's mingled banners, come^ 

Donvn the steep mountain glittering far. 
And shouting still, *' A Home I A Home .^ 

IV. p. 62. 

The earls of Home, as descendants of the 
Dunbars, ancient earls of March, carried a lion 
rampant, argent; but, as a difference, changed 
the colour of the siiield from gules to vert, m 
allusion to Greenlaw, their ancient possession. 
The slof^an, or warcry of this powertul family, 
was ** A Home ! A Home !" It was anciently 
placed in an escrol above the crest. 1 he hel- 
met is armed with a lioa's head erased gules, 
with a. cap of state gules, turned up ermine. 

The Hepburns, a powertal fciiiiily in east 
Lothian, were usually in close alliance with the 
Homes, The chief of this clan was Hepburn, 



€ANTO FIFTH. 179^ 

FordofHailes; a family which terminated in 
the too famous earl of Bothwell. 

Pursued the football play- —W, p. 63 
The football was anciently a very favourite 
sport all through Scotland, but especially upoa 
the Borders, bir John Carmichael of Carmi- 
chael, warden of the middle marches, was kil- 
led in 1600, by a band of the Armstrongs, re- 
turning from a football match. Sir Robert 
Garey, in his Memoirs, mentions a great meet- 
ing appointed by the Scottish Riders, to be held 
at Kelso, for the purpose of playing at football, 
but which terminated in an incursion upon En- 
gland. At present the football is often played 
by the inhabitants of adjacent parishes, or of 
the opposite banks of a stream. The victory is 
contested with the utmost fury, and very serious 
accidents have sometimes taken place in the: 
struggle. 

' Twixt truce and war, such sudden change- 
Was not iinfrequenty nor held strange^ 

In the old Borderday — VII. p. 64. 
Notwithstanding the constant wars upon the 
Borders, and the occasional cruelties which 
marked the mutual inroads^ the inhabitants on 
cither side do not appear to have regarded each 
other with that violent and personal animosity 
which might have been expected. On the 
contrary, like the outposts of hostile armies, 
they often carried on something resembling 
friendly intercourse, even in the middle of hos- 
tilities ; and it is evident, from various ordinan- 
ces against trade and intennarriages between 
English and Scottisli Borderers, that the govern- 
tnents of both countries were jealous of their 
eherishing too intimate a connection. Froissart 
sajs of both nations^ that •* Englyshemeu oil'. 



m NOTES ON 

^he one party, and Scottes on the other part3*» 
are good men of warre ; for when they meet, 
there is aharde fight without sparynge. There 
is no hoo \_truc€'\ between them aslong as spears, 
swords, axes, or daggers will endure, but lay- 
on eche upon other, and whan they be wxU beat* 
en, and that the one partye hath obtayned the 
victory, they than glory fye so in they re dedes 
of armes, and are so joyfull, that such as be ta- 
ken they shall be ransomed, or that they go out 
of the felde, so that shortly eche of them is so 
content with other, that at their departynge, 
curtyslye they will say, God thank you." — 
Berner's Froissart, vol. ii. 153. The Border 
meetings of truce, which, although places of 
merchandise and merriment, often witnessed 
the most bloody scenes, may serve to illustrate 
the description in the text. They are vividly 
pourtrayed in the old ballad of the Reidsquair. 
Both parties came armed to a meeting of the 
wardens, yet they intermixed fearlessly and 
peaceably with each other in mutual sports and 
familiar intercourse, until a casual fray arose ; 

Then was there nought but bow and spear, 
And every man pulled cat a brand. 

In the 29th verse of this canto, there is an 
attempt to express some of the mixed feelings, 
with which the Borderers on each side were 
led to regard their neighbours. 

And frequent y on the darkening filain^ 
Loud hollo^ tvhoofi^ and ivhistle ran ; 

As bandsy their stragglers to regain^ 

Gave the shrill ivatchword of their clan, 

VIII. p. 68. 

Patten remarks, with bitter censure, the dis- 
orderly conduct of the English Borderers, who 



CANTO SIXTH. 181 

attended the Protector Somerset on his expe- 
dition against Scotland. *' As we wear then 
a setling, and the tents a setting up, among all 
tilings els commendable in oure hole jorney, 
one thing seemed to me an intollerable disor- 
der and abuse ; that whereas alhveys, both 
hi all tounes of war, and in all campes of ar- 
mies, quietnes and stilnes, without noise, is 
principally in the night, after the watch is set, 
observed (I need not reason why,) our northern 
prikkers, the Borderers, notwithstandyng, 
with great enormitie (as thought me,) and 
not unlike (to be playn) unto a masteries hounde 
howlying in a hie wey when he hath lost him 
he waited upon, sum hoopynge, sum whistling, 
and most with crying, a Berwyke, a Berwyke ! 
a Fenwyke, a Fenwyke ! a Bulmer, a Bui- 
mer ! or so otherwise as theyr captains names 
wear, never lin'de these troublous and dange- 
rous noyses all the nyghte longe. They said 
they did it to finde their captain and fellows ; 
but if the souldiours of our other countreys and 
sheres had used the same manner, in that case 
we shook! have oft tymes had the state of our 
camp more like the outrage of a dissolute 
huntyng, than the quiet of a well ordered ar- 
mye. It is a feat of war, in mine opinion, that 
might right well be left. I could reherse caus- 
es (but yf I take it, they ar better unspoken 
than uttred, unless the faut Avear sure to be 
amended) that might shew thei move alweis 
more peral to our armie, but in their one night's 
so doynge, than thei shew good service (as sum 
sey) in a hoole vyage." Apud Dalzell's Frag- 
ments, p. 75. 



182 NOTES, 5cc. 

Cheer the dark bloodhound on his nxmy^ 
And "with the bugle roii^e the fray, 

XXIX. p. 68 
The pursuit of Border inarauders was follow- 
ed by the injured party and his friends with 
bloodhounds and buglehorn, and was Ccdled the 
hottrod. He was entitled, if his dog could trace 
the scent, to follow the invaders into the oppo- 
site kingdom ; a privilege which often occasion- 
ed bloodshed. In addition to what has been 
said of the bloodhound, I may add, that the 
breed was kept up by the Buccleuch family on 
their Border estates till within tiie ISth centu- 
ry. A person was alive in the memory of man, 
who remembered a blood hound being kept at 
Eldinhope, in Ettricke Forest, for whose main- 
tenance the tenant had an allowance of meal. 
At that time the sheep were alv/ays watched 
at night. Upon one occasion, when the duty 
had fallen on the narrator, then a lad, he be- 
came exhausted with fatigue, and fell asleep 
upon a bank near sunrising. Suddenly he was 
awakened by the tread of horses, and saw five 
men well mounted and armed, ride briskly over 
the edge of the hill. They stopped and looked 
at the flock ; but the day was too far broken 
to admit the chance of their carrying any of 
them oiT. One of them, in spite, leaped from 
his horse, and coming to the shepherd, seized 
him by the belt he wore round his waist ; and 
setting his foot upon his body, pulled till it broke 
and carried it away with him. They rode off 
at the gallop; and the siiepherd giving the 
alarm, the bloodhoui^d was turned loose, and 
the people in the neighbourhood alarmed. The 
marauders, however, escaped, notwithstanding 
a sharp pursuit. This circumstance serves to 
shew, how very long tlie license of the Border- 
ers continued in some degree to manifest itself. 



NOTES ON CANTO SIXTH, 

She wrought not by forbidden sfielL 

v.p. rs. 

JropuLAR belief, though contrary to the do(N 
trines of the church, made a favouFable dis- 
tinction betwixt magicians, and necromancers, 
or wizards : the former were supposed toconi- 
niand the evil spirits, and the latter to serve, 
or at least to be in league and compact witk 
those enemies of mankind. The arts of sub* 
jecting the demons were manifold ; sometimes 
the fiends were actually swindled by the magi- 
cians, as in the case of the bargain betwixt one 
of their number and the poet Virgil. The clas* 
sic reader will doubtless be curious to peruse 
this anecdote'. 

*' Virgilius was at scole at Tolenton, where 
he stodyed d} ligently, for he was of great un- 
d^rstandyng. Upon a tyme the scolers had ly- 
cense to go to play andsporte them in the fy Ides, 
after the usuance of the holde tyme. And 
there was also Vii^giiius therebye, also walk- 
ynge amonge the hylles alle about. It fortun- 
ed he spyed a great hole in the syd.l of a great 
hyll, wherein he w^ent so depe. that'he culde 
not see no more lyght ; and than he went a ly- 
tlell farther therein, and than lie saw some lyght 
agayne, and than he went fourth streyghte, 
and within a lytyll \w\ le after he harde a voyce 
that called * Virgilius ! Virgilius !' and loked 
about, and he colde nat see nobody. Then 



184 NOTES ON 

sayd (i. e. the voice,) * Virgilius, see ye not the 
lytyll borde lyinge byside you tliere marked 
with that woixi ?' Than answered Virgilius, 

* I see that borde well anough ?' The voyce 
sayd, * dco awaye that borde, and let me out 
there atte.' Ihen answered Virgilius to the 
voyce that was under the ly tell borde, and sayd, 

* Who art thou that calls me so?' Then an- 
swered the Devyll, " I am a devyll conjured 
out of the body of a certeyne man, and banyssh- 
ed here tyllthe day of judgemend, wiiihout that 
I be delyvercd by the hands of men. Thus, Vir- 
giUus, I pray the, delyvere me out of this payn, 
and I shall shew unto the many bokes of ny- 
cromancye, and bow thou slialt come by it 
lyghtly, and know the practise therein, that 
no man in the scyence of nygromancy shall 
passe the. And moreover, I shall shew and 
informe the so, tliat thou shah have alle thy 
desyre, whereby mythynke it is a great gyfte 
for so lytyll a do> nge. For ye may also thus 
all your power frendys helpe, and make ryche 
your enneirjyes.' Through that great promyse 
was Virgilius tempted ; he bade the fynd show 
the bokes to hym, that he might have and oc- 
cupy them at his wyll, and so the fyend shewed 
hym. And than Virgilius pulled open a bourde 
and there was a lytell hole, and thereat wrang 
the devyll out lyke a yell, and cam and stood 
before Virgilius lyke a by gge man ; wherof 
Virgilius was astonished and marveyled*greatly 
thereof, that so greate a man might come out 
at so lytell a hole. Than sayd Virgilius, 
Shulde ye well passe into the hole that ye cam 
out of?' * Yea, I shall well,' said the devil. ' I 
holde the best plego;e that I have that ye shall 
not doit.' *Weli,'' sayd the devyll, *therto I 
tonsent.' And than the devyll wrange himself 



CANTO SIXTH. 185 

into the lytell holeageyn ; and as he was there 
in, Virgilius kyverecl the hole ageyn with the 
bourde close, and so was the devyll begyled, 
and myght nat there come out ageyn, but abyd- 
eth shytte stylle therein. Than called the 
devyll dredefully to Virgiiius, and sayd, * What 
have ye done, Virgiiius ?' Virgiiius answered, 
' Abyde there styll to your day apoynted ;' and 
fro thensforth abydeth he there- A4id so Vir- 
giiius became very cunning in the practyse of 
the blacke scyence.' 

This story may remind the reader of the 
Arabian tale of the fisherman and the impri- 
soned Genii ; and it is more than projable that 
many of the marvels narrated in the life of 
Virgil are of oriental extraction. Among such 
I am disposed to reckon the following whimsi- 
cal account of the foundation of Naples, con- 
taining a curious theory concerning the origin 
of the earthquakes with which it is afflicted. 
Virgil, w4io was a person of gallantry, had, it 
seems, carried off the daughter of a certain 
Soldan, and was anxious to secure his prize. 

'* Than he thought in his minde how he 
myghte mareye hyr, and thoughte inhis mynde 
to founde in the middes of the see a fayer 
towne, with great landes belongyng to it, and 
so he dyd by his cunnynge, and called it Na- 
pells. And thefandacyon of it was egges, and 
in that towne of Napells he made a tower 
with iiii corners, and in the toppe he set an 
apell upon an yrn yarde, and no man coulde 
puUe awaye that apell without he brake it ; 
and thoroughe that yrn set he a bolte, and in 
that bolte set he a egge. And he henge the 
apell by the stauke apon a cheynge, and so 
hangeth it styll. And when the egge styrreth, 
so shulde the towne of Napells quake ; and 



US NOTES ON 

when the egge brake, and tlien shulde Urn 
to^ue sinke. Vv hen he had made an ende, 
he lette call it Napells." Montfaugon, vol. ii, 
p. 329. 

wf merlin sat ufion her tvrist, V. p. 7^, 
A merlin, or sparrowhawk, was usually car- 
ried by ladies of rank, as a falcon was, in the 
time of peace, the constant attendant of a 
knight or baron. See Latham on Falconry. — 
Ixodscroft relates, that when Mary of Loraine 
was regent, she pressed the earl of Angus to 
admit a royal gari'ison into his castle of Tan- 
tallon. To this he returned no direct answer, 
but, as if apostrophising a goshawk, which sat 
jn his wrist, and which he v. as feeding duringthe 
queen's speech, he exclaimed, ** The devil's 
in this greedy glade, she will never be full,'* 
Harness History of the- house of Douglas, 1743» 
vol. ii. p. 131. Barclay complains of the com- 
mon and indecent practice of bringing hawks 
and hounds into churches. 

A firinccly peacock^ s gilded train.,..\J. p. 129. 
The peacock, it is well known, was consid- 
ered, during the times of chivalry, not merely 
as an exquisite delicacy, but as a dish of pecu- 
liar solemnity. After being roasted, it was 
again decorated Vrith its plumage, and a spunge 
dipt in lighted spirits of wrne, was placed in 
its bill. When it v/as introduced on days of 
grand festival, it was the signal for the adven- 
turous knights to take upon them vows to do 
some deed of chivalry*** before the peacock 
and the ladies." 

c/fwa o^cr the boarhcady garnished brave, 

VI. p. 7^. 
The bviar's head was also a usual dish of 
feudal .splendor. In Scotland it wa€ sometimes. 



CANTO SIXTH. 187 

surrounded with little banners, displaying the 
colours and atchievments of the baron, at wnose 
board it was served. Pinkerton\ History^ 
vol. i. p. 432. 

jind cvgnct from Sc, Mary^s nvave. 

VI. p. 7B, 

There are often flights of wild swans upoa 
St. Mary's Lake, at the head of the river Yar- 
row. 

Smote, with his gauntlet, ^tout HunthilL 

VII. p. 79 

The Rutherfords of Hunthill, were an an- 
cient race of Border lairds, whose names occur 
in history, sometimes as defending the frontier 
against the English, sometimes as disturbing 
the peace of the country. Dickon Drawthes- 
word, was son to the ancient warrior, called 
in tradition the Ccck of Hunthill. 

But bit his glove, and shook his head, 

VII. p. 79. 

To bite the thumb, or the glove, seems not 
to have been considered, upon the Border, as 
a gesture of contempt, though so used by 
Shakespeare, but as a pledge of mortal re- 
venge. It is yet remembered, that a young 
gentleman of Teviotdale, on the morning after 
a hard drinkingbout, observed, that he had 
bitten his glove. He instantly demanded of 
his companion, with whom he had quarrelled ^ 
and learning that he had had words with one 
of tlie party, insisted on instant satisfaction, 
asserting, that though he remembered nothing 
of the dispute, yet he never would have bit 
his glove unless he had received some unpar- 
donable insult. He fell in the duel, which was 
fought near Selkirk, in 1721, 



188 NOTES ON 

Arthur Firethebraes.WW. -p. 131. 

The person bearing this redoubtable 7iomme 
de- guerre was an Elliot, and resided at Thor- 
leshope, in Liddesdaie. He occurs in the list 
ef Border riders, in 1597. 

Since old Bucclcuch the name did gain^ 
When in the clench the buck nvas to" en. 

VIII. p. 131. 
A tradition preserved by Scott of Satchells, 
\vho published, in 1688, A true History of the 
Right Hononrable name of Scott ^ gi\es the 
following romantic origin of that name. Two 
brethren, natives of Galloway, having been 
banished from that country for a riot, or insur- 
rection, came to Rankelburn, in Ettricke For- 
est, where the keeper, whose name was Bry- 
done, received them joyfully, on account of 
their skill in winding the horn, and in the 
other mysteries of the chase. Kenneth Mac 
Alpin, then king of Scotland, came soon after 
to hunt in the royal forest, and pursued a buck 
from Ettrickeheuch to the glen now called 
Buccleuch, about two miles above the junction 
of Rankelburn with the river Ettricke. Here 
the stag stood at bay ; and the king and his at- 
tendants, who follovred on horseback, were 
thrown out by the steepness of the hill and the 
morass. John, one of the brethren from Gallo- 
way, had followed the chase on foot ; and now 
coming in, seized the buck by the horns, and, 
being a man of great strength and activity, 
threw him on his ba.ck, and run with this bur- 
then about a mile up the steep hill, to a place 



-T-«^- 



CANTO SIXTH. U^ 

called Cracra Cross, where Kenneth had hal- 
ted, and laid the buck at the sovereign's feet^c 

The deer being curee'd in that place, 

At his majesty's demand, 
Then John of Galloway ran apace, 

And fetched water to his hand. 
The king did wash into a dish, 

And Galloway John he wot ; 
lie said, ** thy name now after this 

Shall ever be called John Scot. 
The forest, and the deer therein, 

We commit to thy hand ; 
For thou shalt sure the ranger be, 

If tlioii obey command. 
And for the buck thou stoutly brought 

To us up that steep heuch. 
Thy designation ever shall 

Be John Scot in Buckscleuch." 

In Scotland no Buckcleuch was then. 
Before the buck in the cleuch was slain ; 
Nightsmen c at first they did appear, 
Because moon and stars to their arm they 
bear. 

c Froissart relates, that a knight, of the household of 
the Compte de Foix exliibited a similar feat of strength' 
The hall fire had waxed low, and wood was wanted to 
mend it. This knight went down to the conrtyard, where 
stood an ass laden with faggots, seized on the animal and 
his burden, and, carrying him up to the hall on his shoul- 
ders, tumbled him into the chimney with his heels upper- 
most; a humane pleas^antry, much applauded by the 
count and all the spectators. 

d «* minions of the moon," as FalstafTwoul ' have said. 
The vocation pursued by our ancient Borderers may be 
jus^iiIed o n the authoiity of the most polished of the an- 
cient nations. ** For the Grecians in old time, and such 
barbarians as in the continent, lived neere unto the sea^ 
or else inhabited the islands, after once they be^an to 



in NOTES ON 

Their crest, supporters, and hunting Horn^^ 
Shows their beginning from hunting came ; 
Their name ?.nd style, the book doth say, 
John gained them both into one day. 

Watt's Bellanden, 
The Buccleuch arms have been altered, and 
now allude less pointedly to this hunting, whe- 
ther real or fabulous. The family now" bear 
Or upon a bend azure, a mullet betwixt twa 
crescents of the held ; in addition to which they 
formerly bore in the field a hunting horn. The 
supporters, now tw^o ladies, were formerly a 
hound and buck, or according to the old terms, 
a hart of leash, and a hart qfgreece. The fam- 
ily of Scott of Howpasley and Thirlestane long 
retained the buglehorn : they also carried a 
bent bov/ and arrow in the sinister cantle, per- 
haps as a difference. Jt is said the old motto 

cro se over one to another in ships, became theeves, ami 
went abroad under the conduct of their more puissant 
Hieii, both to enrich themselves, and to fetch in mainte- 
nance ft r the weak : and falhng upon towns unfortified, 
or st:attering y nhabited, rifted them, and made this 
the best njeans of their living; being a matter at that 
time no where m disgrace, but raiher carryinsj wstl) it 
something of glory. This is manifest by some that dwell 
upori the continent, amongst whom, sr- it be perform- 
ed nobJy, it is still esteemed a>' an ornament The same 
also is prooved by some of the ancient poets, who intro- 
duce men quesuoning of such as sail by, on all coasts a- 
like, wheiher they hee theeves or not; as a thyng ney- 
ther scorned ly such as v;ere asked, nor upbraided by 
those that were desirous to know. They also robbed one 
another within the ma^n land ; and much of Greece useth 
that old custome, as the Locrians, the Acarnanians, ami 
those of the continent In that quarter unto this day. 
Moreover, the fashion of wearing iron remaineth j'et with 
the people of thai coutinent^.from their old trade of thee-» 
iring.*' iJobbes' Thucydides, p. 4. Lond, 1629. 



GAKTO SIXTH. 1#1' 

was Best riding by moonlight^ in allusion to the 
ereacents on the shield, and perhaps to the hab- 
its of those who bore it. The motio now given 
is AniOy applying to the female supporters. 

Old 'Albert GraemCy 

The Minstrel, of that ancient name. V. x p. 81. 
" John Grahme, second son of Malice earl of 
Monteithy commonly surname d John ivith the 
Bright Sxvonl^ upon some displeasure risen, 
against him at court, retired with many of his 
elan and kindred into the English borders in the 
reign of king Henry the fourth, where they seat- 
ed themselves;, and many of their posterity 
have continued there ever since. Mr. San ford, 
speakingof them, says, (wliich indeed was ap- 
plicable to most of the Borderers on both sides) 
** They were all stark, mosstroopers, and ar- 
rant thieves: both to England and Scotland 
outlawed ; yet sometimes connived at, because 
they gave intelligence forth of Scotland, and 
"would raise four humlred horse at any time up- 
on a raid of the English into Scotland. A say- 
ing is recorded of a mother to her son (which is, 
now become proverbial), Ride , Rowley^ hough^s 
i' the pot : that is, the last piece of beef was in 
the pot, and therefore it was high time for him. 
to go and fetch more." Introduction to the 
History of Cumberland 

The residence of the Grssmes being chiefly 
in Debateable Land, so called because it was 
claimed by both kingdoms, their depredations 
extended both to England and Scotland, with 
impunity ; for as both wardens accounted them 
the proper subjects of their own prince, neither 
inclined to demand reparation for their exces- 
ses from the opposite officer, which would have 
been an acknowledgment of his jurisdiction, 
over them. See a long correspondence on this^ 



192 NOTES ON 

subject betwixt lord Dacre and the English 
privy council, in Introduction to the History of 
Cumberland. The Debateable Land was 
finally divided betwixt England and Scotland 
by commissioners appointed by both nations- 

Tht sun shines fair on Carlisle wall, 

XL p. 85. 
This burden is adopted with some alteration 
from an old Scottish song, beginning thus : 
She leaned her back against a thorn, 

The sun siiines fair on Carlisle wa' ; 
And there she has her young babe born, 
And the lyon shall be lord of a\ 

ir/io has not heard of Surrey^ s fame. 

XIIT. p. ^^, 
The gallant and unfortunate Henry Howard, 
earl of Surrey, was unquestionably the most 
accomplished cavalier of his time ; and his son- 
nets display beauties which would do honour 
to a more polished age. He was beheaded on 
'Towerhillin 1546 ; a victim to the mean jeal- 
ousy of Henry VIII. who could not bear so 
brilliant a character near his throne. 

The song of the supposed bard is founded on 
an incident said to have happened to the earl 
in his travels. Cornelius Agrippa, the celebrat- 
ed alchemist, shewed him, in a looking glass, 
the lovely Geraidine, to whose service he had 
devoted his pen and his sword. The vision re- 
presented her as indisposed, and reclined upon 
a couch, i-eading her lover's verses by the light 
of a waxen taper. 



CANTO SIXTH. IgJ 

The stormsnvejit Or cades ; 
Where erst Sai?it Clairs held firincely sTjaij^ 
O'er isle and islets strait and bay, 

XXI. p. S5. 
The St. Clairs are of Norman extraction, be- 
ing descended from William de St. Clair, se- 
cond son of Walderne compte de St. Clair, and 
Margaret, daughter of Richard Duke of Nor- 
mandy. He was called, for his fair deport- 
ment, the Seemly St. Clair, and settled in 
Scotland during the reign of Malcolm Cean- 
more, obtained large grants of land in Mid- 
lothian. These domains were increased by 
the liberality of succeeding monarchs, to the 
descendants of the family, and comprehended 
the baronies of Rosline, Pentland, Cowsland, 
Cardrine, and several others. It is said a 
large addition was obtained from Robert 
Bruce, on the following occasion. The king, 
in following the chase upon Pentland hills, had 
often started a ** white fauch deer," which 
had always escaped from his hounds ; and he 
asked the nobles, who were aseembled round 
him, whether any of them had dogs wliich 
they thought might be more successful ? No 
courtier would affirm that his hounds were 
fleeter than those of the king, until Sir Wil- 
liam St. Clair of Rosline unceremoniously said, 
he would wa^rer his head, that his two favour- 
ite dogs, '* Help and Hold," would kill the 
deer before she could cross the Marcliburn. 
The king instantly caught at his unwarv offer, 
and betted the forest of Pentlandmoor against 
the life of Sir William St. Clair. All the hounds 
were tied up, e5<cept a few ratct.es, or slow 
hounds to put up tlie deer ; while Sir William Sx. 
Clair posting himself into the best situation for 
slipping his dogs, prayed devoutly to Christ, 
O 



194 NOTES ON 

the blessed Virgin, and St. Katharine. The 
deer was shortly roused, and the hounds slip- 
ped ; Sir William following on a gallant steed, 
to cheer his dogs. The hind, however, reach- 
ed the middle of the brook, upon which the 
hunter threw himself from his horse in despair. 
At this critical moment, however, Hold stopped 
her in the brook ; and Help coming up, turn- 
ed her back, and killed her on Sir William's 
side. The king descended from the hill, em- 
braced Sir William, and bestowed upon him 
the lands of Kirkton, Loganhouse, Earncraig, 
&:c. in free forestrie. Sir William, in acknow- 
ledgment of St. Katherine's intercession, built 
the char el of St. Katherine in the Hopes, the 
churchvard of which is still to be seen. The 
hill, from which Robert Bruce beheld this 
memorable chase, is still called the King's 
Hill, and the place where Sir William hunted, 
is called the Knight's Field a MS. History 
of the family of St. Clair, by Richard Augus- 
tin Hay, Canon of St. Genevieve. * 

a The tomb of Sir William St. Clair, on wbicb he ap- 
pears sculptured in armour, with a grey hound at his 
feet, is st'ili to be seen in Rusline chapel. The person who 
shews it, always tells the story of his hunting match, 
with some addition to mr. Hav^s account, as that the 
knight of RoslJne's fright made him poetical, and that 
in the last emergency, he sliouted, 
Help, hand, an' ye may, 
Or Ro-line hiH lose his head this day. 
\i this couplet does him no great hon;<ur as a poet, the 
conclusion of the story doe? him still less creslit. He set 
liis foot on the dog, says the narrator, and killed him on 
the spot, sayin?, he would never again put his neck in 
such a risk. As Mr flay does noi mention this circum- 
stance, I hope it is only founded on the couchant pos- 
ture of the hound on the moni'.ment. 



CANTO SIXTH. 193 

This adventurous huntsman married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Malice Spar, earl of Ork- 
ney and Stratherne, in whose right tlieir eon 
Henry was, in 1379, created earl of Orkney, 
by Haco, king of Norway. His title was^ re- 
cognized by the kings of Scotland, and remain- 
ed with his successors until it was annexed to 
the crown, 1471, by act of Parliament. In ex- 
change for this earldom, the castle and do- 
mains of Ravenscraig, or Ravensheuch, were 
conferred on Sir William St. Clair, earl of 
Cathness. 

Sii/l nods the jialace to its fall. 

Thy pride and sorrow, fair Kirkwall ! 

XXL p. 85. 

The castle of Kirkwall was built by the St. 
Clairs, while earls of Orkney. It was dis- 
mantled by the earl of Cathness, about 1615, 
having been garrisoned against the govern- 
ment by Robert Stewart, natural son to the 
earl of Orkney. 

Its ruins afforded a sad subject of contem- 
plation to John, master of St. Clair, who, fly- 
ing from his native country, on account of his 
share in the insurrection 1715, made some stay 
at Kirkwall. 

. .** I had occasion to entertain m;yself at 
Kirkwall, with the melancholy prospect of the 
ruins of an old castle, the seat of the old earls 
of Orkney, my ancestors ; and of a more mel- 
ancholy reflection, of so great and noble an 
estate as the Orkney and Scotland isles being 
taken from one of them by James the third for 
faultrie, after his brother Alexander, duke to 
Albany, had married a daughter of my fami- 
ly, and for protecting and defending the said 
Alexander against the king, who wished lo 



196 KOTES ON 

kill him as he had done his youngest brother, 
the earl of Mar ; and for which, after the for- 
faultrie, he gratefully divorced my forfaulted 
ancestor's sister. Though I cannot persuade 
myself that he had any misalliance to plead 
against a familie in whose veins the blood of 
Robert Bruce run as fresh as in his own ; for 
their title to the crowne, was by a daugh- 
ter of David Bruce son to Robert ; and our al- 
liance was by marrying a grandchild of the 
same Robert Bruce, and daughter to the sister of 
the same David, out of the familie of Douglas, 
which at that time did not much sullie the 
blood, more than my ancestors, having not long 
before had the honour of marrying a daughter 
of the king of Denmark's, who was named 
Florentine, and has left in the town of Kirk- 
wall a noble monument of the grandeur of the 
times, the finest church ever I saw entire m 
Scotland. I then had no small reason to think, 
in that unhappy state, on the many not incon- 
siderable services rendered since to the royal 
familie, for these many years by gone, on all 
occasions, when they stood most in need of 
friends, which they have thought themselves 
very often obliged to acknowledge by letters 
yet extant, and in a style more like friends 
than souveraigns; our attachment to them, 
without anie other thanks, having brought up- 
on us considerable losses, and, among others, 
that of our all in Croui weirs time ; and left in 
that condition, without the least relief except 
what we found in our own virtue. My father 
was the onlie man of the Scots nation who had 
courage enough to protest in parliament 
against king William's title to the throne, 
which was lost, God knows how : and this at 
u time when the losses in the cause of the rov- 



CANTO SIXTH. 197 

all famllie, and their usual gratitude, had 
scarce left him bread to maintain a numerous 
familie of eleven children, who had soon after 
sprung upon him, in spite of all which, he had 
honourably persisted, in his principle. I say» 
these things considered, and after being treat- 
ed as I was, and in that unluckie state, when 
objects appear to men in their true light, as at 
the hour of death, could I be blamed for mak- 
ing some bitter reflections to myself, and laugh- 
ing at the extravagance and unaccountable 
humour of men, and the singularitie of my 
own case (an exile for the cause of the Stew- 
art family,) when I ought to have known, that 
the greatest, crime I, or my family, could have 
committed, was persevering to my own des- 
truction, in serving the royal familie faithful- 
ly, though obstinately, after so great a share of 
depression, and after they had been pleased to 
doom me and my familie to starve." MS, 
Mcvioires of John master of St, Clare. 
Kings of the main, their leaders bravCy 
Their barksy the dragons of the wave, 

XXII. p. ^5. 
The chiefs of the Vikingr, or Scandinavian- 
pirates, assumed the title of Sa^konungr^ or 
Sea kings. Ships, in the inflated language of 
the Scalds are often termed the serpents^ 
the ocean. 

Of that »easnake, tremendous curled^ 
Whose monstrous circle girds the world, 

XXII. p. 86. 
The Jormungardry or snake of the ocean, 
whose folds surround the earth, is one of the 
wildest fictions of the Edda. It was very near- 
ly caught by the god Thor, who went to fish 
for it with a hook baifed with a bull's head. 
02 



198 NOTES ON 

In the battle betwixt the evil demons and the 
divinities of Odin, which is to precede the 
Ragnarockr, or Twilight of the Gods, this 
snake is to act a conspicuous part. 

Of those dread maids, whose hideous yell 
Maddens the battle's bloody sivell. 

XXIL p. 86. 
These .were the Valkyruir, or Selectors of 
the slain, dispatched by Odin from Valhailao 
to choose those who were to die, and to dis- 
tribute the contest. They are well known to 
the English reader as Gray's Fatal Sisters. 

JRa7isacked the graves of ivarriors old. 
Their faille hions wrenched from eor/ise^s hold, 

XXIJ. p. 86. 
The northern warriors were usually en- 
tombed with their arms and their other trea- 
sures. Thus Angantyr, before commencing 
the duel in which he was slain, stipulated, that 
if he fell, his sword Tyrting should be buried 
Avitli him. His daughter, Hervor, afterwards 
took it from his tomb. The dialogue which 
]>assed betwixt her and Angantyr's spirit on 
this occasion has been often translated. The 
whole history may be found in the Hervarar 
Saga. Indeed the ghosts of the northern war- 
riors were not wont tamely to suHer their 
tombs to be plundered; and hence the mortal 
heroes had an additional temptation to attempt 
such adventures ; for they held nothing more 
worthy of their valour than to encounter su- 
pernatural beings. Bartholinus De causis con- 
temptae a Danis mortis, lib. i. cap. 2, 9, 10, 13. 

Bosabelle. XXIII. p. S6. 

This was a family name in the house of St. 
Clair. Henry St. Clairj -.he second of the line, 



CANTO SIXTH. 155 

married Rosabelle, fourth daugliter to the earl 
of Stratherne. 

Castle Ravensheiich. XXIIT. p. 86. 

A large and strong castle, now ruinous, situ- 
ated betwixt Kirkaldy and Dysart, on a steep 
crag, washed by the Firth of Forth. It was 
conferred on Sir William St. Clair, as a slight 
Compensation for the earldom of Orkney, by a 
charter of king James 111. dated in 1471, and 
is now the property of Sir James St. Clair Er- 
skine, representative of the family. It was 
long a principal residence of the Barons of 
Roslin. 

See?ned ail on fire that chufiel firbud^ 
IV here Roslin^ a chiefs uncoffined lie ; 

Rach baron, for a sable shroud^ 
Sheathed in his iron panoply. 

XXIII. p. 87. 

The beautiful chapel of Roslin is still in tol- 
erable preservation. It was founded in 1446 
by VViliiam St. Clair, prince of Orkney, duke 
of Oidenburgh, earl of Cathness and Stra- 
therne, lord St. Clair, lord Niddesdale, lord 
admiral of the Scottish seas, lord chief justice 
of Scotland, lord warden of the three marches, 
baron of Roslin, Pentland, Pentlandmoor, 6cc. 
knight of the cockle and of the garter (as is 
affirmed,) high chancellor, chamberlain, and 
lieutenant of Scotland. This lofty person, 
whose titles, says Godscroft, might weary a 
Spaniard, built the castle of Roslin, where he 
resided in princely splendour, and founded the 
chapel, which is in the most rich and florid 
style of Gothic architectuie. Among the pro- 
fuse carving on the pillars and buttresses, the 
rose is frequently introduced in allusion to the 
name, with which, however, the flower has no 



200 NOTES ON 

connection; the etymology being Rosslinnhe, 
the promontory of the lin, or waterfall. The 
chapel is said to appear on lire previous to the 
death of any of hisdescendents. This superstition 
noticed by Slezer inhis Theatrum Scotiac, and 
aUuded to in the text, is probably of Norwegi- 
an derivation and may have been imported by 
the earls of Orkney into their Lothian domains. 
The tombiires of the north are mentioned in 
most of the Sagas. 

The barons of Roslin were buried in a vault 
beneath the chapel floor. The manner of their 
interment is thus described by father Hay, in 
the MS. history already quoted. 

*' Sir William Sinclair, the father, was a 
lewd man. He kept a miller's daughter, with 
whom it is alledged he. went to Ireland ; yet. I 
think the cause of his retreat was rather occa- 
sioned by the Presbyterians, who vexed him 
sadly, because of his religion being Roman 
Catholic. His son. Sir William, died during 
the troubles, and was interred in the chapel 
of Roslin the very same day that the battle of 
Dunbar was fouglit. When my good father 
was buried, his {i. e. Sir William's) corpse 
seemed to be entire at the opening of the 
cave ; but when they came to touch his body^ 
it fell into dust. He was lying in his armour, 
with a red velvet cap en his head, on a flat 
stone : nothing was spoiled except a siT^all 
piece of the white furring, that went round 
the cap, ano answered to the hinder part of 
the head. x\ll his predecessors v/ere buried 
after the same manner, in their armour : late 
Rosline, my good father v/as the iirst that was 
buried in a coffin, against the sentiments of 
king Jctmes the seventh, who was then in Scot- 
land, and several other persons well versed in 



CA.NlrO SIXTH. 210 

antiquity, to ^vhom my mother would not 
hearken, thinking it beggarly to be buried af- 
ter that manner. The great expenses she 
was at in burying her husband, occasioned 
the sumptuary acts which were made in the 
following parliaments." 

** Gilbyn, come r \ XXVIL 

See the story of Gilpin Horner, p. 89. 

For he was f^fieechless^ ghastly ^ ivan^ 
lAke him of whom the story ran^ 
Who sjioke the sjiectrehound in Man. 

XXVIL p. 89. 
The ancient castle of Peeltown, in the Isle 
of Man, is surrounded by four churches, now 
ruinous. Through one of these chapels there 
was formerly a passage from the guardroom 
of the garrison. This was closed, it is said, 
upon the following occasion : " They say that 
an apparition, called, in the Mankish lan- 
guage, the Mauthe Dong, in the shape of a 
large black spaniel, with curled shaggy hair, 
was used tohauni Peelcastle ; and has been 
frequently seen in every room, but particular- 
ly in the guardchamber, where, as soon as 
candles were lighted, it came and lay down 
before the fire, in presence of all the soldiers, 
who at length, by being much accustomed to 
the sight of it, lost great part of the terror 
they were seized with at its first appearance. 
They still, however, retained a certain awe, 
as believing it was an evil spirit, which only 
waited permission to do them hurt ; . and for 
that reason forbore swearing, and all profane 
discourse, while in its company. But though 
they endured the shock of a such a guest 
when altogether in a body, none cared to be 
left alene with it : it being the custom, there- 



202 NOTES ON 

fore, for one of the soldiers to lock the gates 
of the castle at a certain hour, and carry the 
keys to the captain, to whose apartment, as I 
said before, the way led through the church, 
they agreed among themselves, that whoever 
was to succeed the ensuing night his fellow in 
this errand, should accompany him that went 
first, and by this means no man would be ex- 
posed singly to the danger ; for I forgot to 
mention, that the Mauthe Doog was always 
seen to come out from that passage at the close 
of day, and return to it again as soon as the 
morning dawned ; which made them look on 
this place as its peculiar residence. 

** One night, a fellow being drunk, and by 
the strength of his liquor rendered more dar- 
ing than ordinarily, laughed at the simplicity 
of his companions ; and though it was not his 
turn to go with the keys, would needs take 
that ofiice upon him, to testify his courage. 
All the soldiers endeavoured to dissuade him ; 
but the more they said, the more resolute he 
seemed, and swore that he desired nothhig 
more than that the Mauthe Doog would fol- 
low him, as it had done the others ; for he 
would try if it were dog or devil. After hav- 
ing talked in a very reprobate manner for 
some time, he snatched up the keys, and went 
out of the guardroom : in sometime after his 
departure, a great noise was heard, but no- 
body had the boldness to see what occasioned 
it, till the adventurer returning, they demand-' 
ed the knowledge of him ; but as loud and 
noisy as he had been at leaving them, he was 
now become sober and silent enough ; foi he 
was never heard to speak more : and though 
all the time he lived, which was three days, 
he was intreated by all who came near him, 



CANTO SIXTH. 203' 

either to speak, or, if be could not do that, to 
make some signs, by which they might under- 
stand what had happened to him, yet nothing 
intelligible could be got from him ; only that, 
by the distortion of his limbs and features, it 
might be guessed that he died in agonies, more 
than is common in a natural death. 

The Mauthe Doog was, however, never af- 
ter seen in the castle, nor would any one at- 
tempt to go through that nassagc ; for which 
reason it was closed up, nnd another way made 
This accident 1 appened about three score 
years since: and I heard it attestedj^y pe\er- 
al, but especially by an old soldier, who as- 
sured me he had seen it oftener than h-e had 
then hairs in his head." Waldron's Descrip- 
tion of the Isle of Man, p. 107. 

- ^Ind he a solemn^ sacred plight 
Did to St. Bride of Douglas make, 

XXVIIl. p. 11. 
This was a favourite saint of the house of 
Eouglas, and of the earl of Angus in particular, 
as Ave learn from the following passage : the 
queen regent had proposed to raise a rival no- 
ble to the ducal dignity; and discoursing of her 
purpose with Angus, he answered, *' Why not, 
madam ! we are happy that have such a prin- 
cess, that can know and will acknowledge 
men's service, and is willing to recompense it; 
But, by the might of God (this was his oath, 
when he was serious and in anger, at other 
times, it was by St. Bride of Douglas,) if he 
be a duke, I will be a drake." So she desist- 
ed from prosecuting of that purpose." Gods* 
croft, vol. ii. p. 131. 

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